The Night
by zoey04
Summary: Duo, a powerful mage coveted by many, runs away from home and seals himself away from the world, only to wake one hundred and fifty year later to find the once peaceful earth plagued by a war where he is the ultimate weapon. r&r. yaoi.
1. Prologue

**Yaaay. New storyyyy. XD This one is actually super duper long. Twice as long as my previously longest fic. So I'm really happy. And it actually turned out awesome. Well, at least I think it did... XD So yeah! Please review! Tell me what you think! Cause I really want to knowwww! XD Oh and this is my first time ever writing in third person so if i slipped up and put an 'I' or a 'we' or an 'us' or something, I apologize ;) Enjoy.**

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Prologue

_'In a world beyond controlling_  
_Are you going to deny the savior_  
_In front of your eyes_  
_Stare into the night_  
_Power beyond containing_  
_Are you going to remain a slave for_  
_The rest of your life_  
_Give into the night'_

*One hundred years past…*

After many hours, the three friends finally found a place to stop and rest after their long trek into the caves. They had looped around in a big circle, so they were now only about half an hour walk from the side of the mountain. One of the three stands after his long drink of water.

"That trail is the way out, but I see another little crevice type trail just down there I want to check out," he tells his friends.

They wave him off and he heads through the little cavern to the end where the trail is. He squeezes through a tight spot in the rock, then down a ten yard trail into another, much smaller cavern. But what he sees stops him dead in his tracks. It was a human. A child. He was about five foot three with a lean build. His hair flowed down just past his hips in a tightly woven braid. The boy's eyes were closed, obviously asleep. But that was just the average features of this boy. There were four things that awed the hiker. One was the boy's clothes, obviously signaling him as a fire mage despite his young age. Two was a huge set of black dragon wings with red splatter like patterns on the tissue like membrane. Three was the beautiful black tattoos that swirled and danced over every inch of the boy's body, except for his face. And it wasn't an exaggeration that they danced. The swirls of black ink literally moved across his skin. All of those three things put together only meant one thing to this hiker. This boy was the famed Fire God, the boy that mastered the fire mage technique at a very young age, then discovered a greater power never known to man, dragon, or any other beast, and never really described. This boy had been missing for nearly fifty years.

But the fourth and final thing about this boy that shocked the overwhelmed hiker… The boy was fully encased in nearly three feet of clear stone.

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**I'll post the next chapter too since that was so pitifully short XD And don't worry. The rest of the chapters are much longer. Promise XD So? Is it good? Okay? Horrible? Down right terrible? Please tell meeeee! XD**

**Oh and the song lyrics at the beginning are 'The Night' by Disturbed. Yes that is where I got the lame title XD And no this story was not inspired by the song. I found the song after I started writing it and was like 'OMG THIS SONG FITS SOOOOO WELL' so that's what that is all about XD****  
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	2. Chapter 1

**Next chapter for you guys! Yeah... Enjoy! XD  
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Chapter 1

*Present time*

"Hurry up Heero!" the enthusiastic light mage calls back to the lagging dragon rider.

"How about you just slow down, Quatre?" Heero calls back.

Quatre stops and sits on a boulder next to him, waiting for young rider to catch up to him. Heero hurries up the mountain's side and when he reaches the mage, the mage stands and continues up the face with him. It's not long before they reach a cave. Heero gives it a wary scan, while Quatre jumps eagerly into the darkness. Heero follows.

Quatre raises a hand and a small, yet exceptionally bright, ball of light appears in front of his palm. The rider follows him and the light deep into the caves depths. Deeper and deeper the blonde leads Heero, until half an hour later, they appear in a huge cavern. Beautiful crystals and other sparkling gems glow back at the two young boys. Heero hesitates, staring at the cavern in awe.

"This is amazing, Quatre," the rider breathes.

"You think this is cool? Wait til you see what we really came here for," Quatre smiles, continuing deeper.

"This isn't what you wanted to show me?" Heero asks in confusion.

"Nah. What we're about to see is so much cooler."

Heero runs to catch up to the mage and his light. They squeeze through a tight spot in the rock, then inch their way through about thirty feet of pathway until they come into another cavern. What the young rider sees freezes him where he stands.

From the light illuminating from Quatre's hand, Heero can clearly see a huge boulder of clear stone, and in that stone, the most beautiful thing he's ever seen in his life. The boy was breathtakingly handsome, his long braid of chestnut hair shimmering even in the stone, his pale skin alive with swirls and twists of black ink snaking over his body, and his magnificent black wings with red marks that resemble splatters.

"Who is he?" the awed rider asks in a quiet voice, circling around the mass of stone.

"You, my friend, are looking at the lost Fire God. Fifty years after disappearing off the face of the earth, he was found here frozen in time. That was about a hundred years ago."

"I've never heard of him," the dragon rider replies.

"You've never heard of him?"

"No… what's his story? He looks like a regular fire mage to me. Except for the wings… And the tattoos are something different…"

"His story is that he's the most gifted mage anyone has ever documented. He's ten times more powerful than the six mage lords put together. It's not just his skill with a fire, but some other power he's said to have."

"What power is that?"

"Nobody knows. Only few have seen it and of them no one has documented it. It's more of a myth than a fact. All that's said is when he'd lose control, or lose his temper, he could move the world on accident. But if we had him on our side in this war, we'd win in two days."

"Wow…" the young rider breathes.

Heero had reached the side of the stone mass and was staring intently at the beautiful boy in the stone when he saw a movement. Not the movement of the tattoos on his pale skin, but near his chest. There it was again… Heero steps closer, squinting at the boy. He sees it again. Then he realizes what it is he's seeing. The boy is breathing.

"He's alive!" Heero cries, drawing his sword and running at the stone block.

"No!" Quatre cries, diving at the rider.

They fall to the ground and with the loss of Quatre's concentration, the light goes out, plunging them into darkness.

"Turn it back on," the young rider hisses. "And get off of me."

The light mage scrambles off the dragon rider and illuminates the room again. Heero picks up his sword and turns a glare on Quatre.

"Why did you stop me? That boy is alive. We need to help him," Heero points out to him.

"I know he's alive. Everyone knows he's alive. But no one has been able to get to him. The stone has some sort of protection spell in it that won't let anyone or anything touch it. Some people say that the Fire God did this to protect himself because of a danger he was in, and that he could be awake right now and controlling the spell. Ever since he was found over one hundred years ago, people have tried different ways to get him out, to wake him up, but everyone who tries ends up seriously injured or even dead."

Heero frowns. He desperately wants to get this beautiful creature out of the stone, but will have to come back by himself so no one would stop him. Quatre turns to leave and Heero reluctantly follows. When they get back to the face of the mountain, it's dark outside and Heero looks down and how far they have to climb. He exhales sharply.

"Sorry Quat but I'm not climbing all the way down this mountain. If you want a ride, feel free to join me," Heero tells the blonde, then brings his fingers to his lips and whistles loudly.

Not a minute later, a stark white dragon flies up the side of the mountain and perches on a bolder right next to the two boys. It's a lean, long creature and its only color coming from the two long, gold horns growing out of the top of its head in almost a V like shape. It stands about ten feet tall to the top of its back and a wingspan of about thirty feet.

Heero climbs up into the saddle already secured on the dragon's back and lowers a hand for Quatre to climb up with him.

"Take us home, Wing," the rider tells his steed.

Wing flies the two boys home in a fraction of the time it would've taken them to walk back. When they get back to their village, the young rider unsaddles Wing and lets him go off where he wants, and he and Quatre head to their home.

Both Heero's parents were killed in the war about a year ago and he had been wandering since. When he had wandered by this village, the young rider had run into Quatre out in the woods practicing with his light magic. Being the kind kid he is, he asked the rider if he had any place to stay, and saw right through it when Heero lied and said yes. He took the rider to his home and Heero has been living with him in his village ever since.

Of him and his twenty-nine sisters, Quatre was the only one to get the power of light. No one else in his family was a light mage, which made him feel left out a lot. Heero felt the same way, being a swordsman from an wind mage camp in the middle of a village full of light mages. And also the fact that he's the only dragon rider the village has ever seen. The two spend most of their time away from the others, wandering off and practicing their respective skills in the woods.

The two boys sneak into the house and attempt to hurry to their room before Quatre's mother sees them. They manage to make it all the way into their room, but waiting for them inside was Quatre's mother.

"Where have you two been?" she asks.

"We went up to see the Fire God," Quatre replies.

"And you just got back?" she raises an eyebrow at the two of us.

"It takes about four hours to just get up the mountain, then another hour round trip to the Fire God," Quatre explained. "We flew Wing back though."

She gives us a good long look, then waves her hand to the two beds.

"You two get to sleep," she tells the boys as she leaves, closing the door behind her.

They both breathe a sigh of relief, then hurry into bed. After only a few minutes, the rider hears Quatre's light snoring. But he can't fall asleep. He finds himself thinking about the boy in the stone. After nearly an hour of thought, Heero makes up his mind to go up there tomorrow and try to get him out. The rider has no idea what it is about the boy in the stone that has him so determined to save him. All he knows is that he's willing to risk his life to get him out.

The only problem was getting up there without letting Quatre know that's where he was going. The two of them were inseparable. Two peas in a pod. It was going to be very difficult to leave by himself, let alone not tell Quatre where he was going. He'll have to think of something later.

Heero closes his eyes and sleep soon takes his exhausted mind.

…

"Quatre! Quatre there's someone here to see you!" the mage's mother calls from the front room.

The rider stirs awake and rubs his eyes. Quatre is still asleep, not seeming to have heard his mother's voice. Heero sits up and crosses to the mage's bed just about three feet away. The rider shakes his shoulder.

"Quatre. Your mom is calling you," Heero tells the mage.

Quatre stirs awake and lazily stands up, shuffling over to the door.

"What did you say mom?" Quatre calls down.

"There's someone here to see you," she calls back up.

Heero follows the mage down the stairs and into the front room. Suddenly Quatre squeals and hops over the stair rail and dashes into the front room. Heero smiles when he sees that it's Trowa that's here. The blonde mage runs across the room and leaps into the earth mage's arms. Heero adverts his eyes as the earth mage pulls the light mage in for a quick kiss.

"How have you been Quatre? I'm sorry it's been so long since I've seen you," the taller mage asks.

"I've been good. I've missed you," Quatre replies.

"I've missed you too."

Trowa releases Quatre, then looks up at the rider. "How have you been, Heero?"

"Good," Heero replies.

"And your dragon?"

"As crazy as ever."

"Well Trowa and I are going to go for a walk. Want to come, Heero?" Quatre asks the young rider.

"Nah, I'm going to go work with Wing," is the rider's reply, seeing the perfect opportunity to get up the mountain alone.

"If you're sure…" Quatre shrugs, then heads off with Trowa.

The rider follows, then whistles for his white steed. The beast lands and the young rider saddles him up, then mounts.

"Up the mountain, boy," the rider tells the dragon.

With a grunt, the dragon bound up off the ground and flies in the general direction of the mountain. The two circle around until they find the cave opening, then Wing lowers down onto a rock. The young rider climbs off the tall dragon and hurries into the cave. That's when Heero realizes that he doesn't have a light source. He looks at his dragon, then finds a stick.

"Light this for me, Wing," Heero asks him.

The dragon's fire breath lights the end of the stick and Heero hurries into the cave. After a half hour of walking, the rider comes across the large cavern. He squeezes through the rock and reaches the mage in the stone. Heero takes a few steps forward and extends his hand towards the stone, but then hesitates, thinking back on what Quatre said.

To test that, the rider picks up a rock and tosses it at the clear stone. The second the rock touches the stone it shatters into a million pieces, spraying everywhere. The rider ducks his head, but the rock fragments still hit him, slicing little cuts into the bare skin of his face and hands.

As the fragments settle, Heero raises his head slowly.

"How the hell am I going to get you out of there?"

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**So what I've decided is it's kind of like a... gw, fire emblem, last airbender kinda cross over... sort of... O.o *doesn't really know*... Anyway... do you guys like? I hope so... cause I really really _really_ like this one. I think it's my favorite XD Please review and tell me what you think!  
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	3. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews, guys :) Makes me feel loved X3. Here's the next chapter for all yall. Enjoy XD**

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Chapter 2

The dragon rider sits down on the cold rock with his back against the wall, staring at the boy in the stone. He studies over the intricate tattoos, memorizes the pattern of red in the outstretched wings, marvels over the sheer power that this boy is said to have. The rider thinks of how much the tides would turn if he had this boy on his side of the war.

"Why did you do this to yourself? What was so bad in your life that you felt you needed to do this?" Heero finds himself asking the boy, although he knows the fire mage can't hear him. "Did you even do this to yourself? Or did someone do this to you?"

Of course there was no answer. Heero wipes away the single drop of blood from one of the deeper cuts in his cheek.

"You must be really lonely in there all by yourself for the past one hundred and fifty years… If you had the power to do this, don't you have the power to undo it? Don't you think you've waited long enough? Or do you even realize that it's been a century and a half?"

Heero stops his rambling, realizing how stupid he must sound, talking to mass of stone. The rider frowns, then stands and moves towards the stone. He extends his shaking hand out. He stops just barely an inch from the clear rock, unable to move closer. He releases the breath he had been holding and drops his hand.

"I'll come back another time, hopefully with a way to get you out," the rider tells the boy in the stone.

With his torch in one hand, the rider turns to leave the cave. He takes one look back before squeezing through the rock and out to his waiting steed. The stick is almost burnt out by the time Heero gets back out to Wing. He tosses it aside and climbs up Wing's scaly side.

"Take me home, Wing," he tells the dragon.

The beast snorts, then takes off, soaring down the mountain face.

"Actually, Wing," the rider frowns. "Take us the long way. Come into the village through the south side opposite the mountain."

The rider didn't want to seem suspicious, especially if Quatre saw him flying down from the mountain. Wing alters his course and turns in the opposite way of the village. He flies around the base of the mountain, then up over the ridge of mountains on the opposite side. He dives back down so he's just over the treetops, then flies parallel to the village by a few miles out. Once he reaches the back of the village, he turns and heads home.

The white dragon drops Heero off near the house, then takes off again. Heero heads inside. It's empty except for Quatre's mother.

"Mrs. Winner?" Heero gets her attention.

"Yes dear?" She looks up from what she was cooking.

"Is Quatre still out with Trowa?"

"Yes, dear, but he should be home soon. If not, look for the light flashes. They could be out practicing in the woods," she tells me.

"Thanks Mrs. Winner," the rider says with a bow.

Heero walks out of the house and jogs out to the woods. He hears the flap of wings behind him and raises an arm up above his head. Just that instant, a scaled hand grabs the rider's wrist and pulls him up. The rider climbs up and sits down on the palm of the dragon's hand.

"Find Quatre, Wing," the young rider calls up to him.

The dragon flies a short distance, then dives and drops the rider before flying off. Heero lands agilely on his feet and looks around to see Trowa and Quatre practicing their magic.

Quatre looks up at the approach of the dragon and waves over to Heero when he sees the young rider look up at him.

"How did working with Wing go?" Quatre asks the rider.

"Uh… good," Heero shrugs, remembering the lie he had told the two mages.

"Well Trowa and I are going to practice a little more, then head back now," Quatre tells the rider.

"Alright, don't let me stop you guys," the rider bows and steps back.

"How about we practice with our swords after, Heero?" Trowa calls to me.

Heero nods. It was a very rare thing, Trowa being the only person the rider had ever met that held both skills, but men either fought with their weapons, or they fought with magic. There were the six mage powers that person was born with, being wind, fire, light, earth, water, and thunder. And then there was everyone else that trained in the art of swordsmanship, or archery, or fought with other weapons such as axes or lances.

Heero watched the light and earth mage dual it out for a little while longer. The earth mage was incredibly strong and gifted, being an heir to the Earth Mage Lord. Quatre wasn't nearly as strong since he grew up in a village with only a handful of light mages to train with, but was very gifted and had lots of potential. The young rider had found out the hard way that Quatre's full potential showed whenever he got pissed.

Once the two mages are done with their magic, Trowa takes a quick breather, then draws the sword he always keeps on his hip. Heero draws his, then takes up a fighting stance. Not a moment later, the rider's white dragon lands next to Heero, sensing the danger. Heero reassures the white dragon that it's just practice, then the light mage calls the white dragon over to where he's sitting. The dragon dutifully obeys, but keeps his ears pricked and his eyes riveted on his master.

The taller earth mage makes the first move. Trowa may have been an insanely skilled earth mage, but his sword skills weren't perfect. He had enough skill to hold his own against Heero, but once Heero seriously started to fight, the earth mage had no chance.

Heero was as skilled with a blade as Trowa was with his earth magic. He discovered his skill when he was very young and trained with masters at the age of only seven. He wasn't a master yet, but he was very close and damn good considering his young age.

The match wore on for about half an hour before the taller of the two boys surrendered. The earth mage bows to the swordsman, then straightens and sheaths his blade. Wing walks over to check over his master, and once he's satisfied that the rider is alright, he takes off.

"We should head back home," Quatre suggests. "Mom should have dinner ready soon and I think we should all get cleaned up before then."

"Agreed," Trowa puts in, taking the light mage's hand and heading back through the trees.

The rider follows next to them and takes part in the conversation, but isn't really paying attention. His mind is a few miles away, in a cave in the mountain, where a boy trapped in stone is.

…

Once the boys were all cleaned up, they all sat around the table with Mrs. Winner to have dinner. While they ate, Trowa informed them of the war's progress. Out here in the little village at the end of the mountain range, information was limited and hard to come by.

The earth mage told them of Treize Khushrenada seizing of the Wind Mage capitol of Virgo. The city had been under siege for three and a half weeks before the wall fell and Khushrenada's men flooded the city, killing nearly everyone. The Wind Mage Lord and his wife were killed, along with one of their sons. The other son managed to lead a group of about three hundred strong soldiers and civilians alike out of the city. They were the only survivors and were currently taking up camp in the Thunder Mage capitol of Cancer.

Another city to fall was a earth mage city called Altron. It had been targeted because of it's location on the main river that lead from Khushrenada's kingdom of Epyon down to big cities such as Altron, Virgo, Cancer, the Water Mage capitol of Pisces, and the kingdom of Peacemillion. Now that Khushrenada had that river, he had control over the trade of those capitols. He could invade them, or starve them by cutting off their supplies.

But Cancer and Pisces had figured that out and as far as Trowa knew, they were in the process of evacuating those two capitols while men from the armies fought to get the river back.

"It seems like this war is progressing faster than we all thought," Quatre murmurs after a moment of silence.

"At this rate, Treize will have taken complete control of the world before the end of the next year," Trowa puts in.

"How could this be fixed? How could we win?" Mrs. Winner asks, her voice full of concern.

The young dragon rider could only think of one way. "We need the Fire God."

…

It's nearing midnight and Heero is still lying awake in his bed. The young dragon rider's mind is trying to figure out how to get the fire mage out of the stone and is swimming with thoughts on the progressing war. He had never put much thought into the war before. He always saw it as an insane man's plot to take over the world. Like that could ever happen right? Taking over the entire world? That was impossible. But suddenly, Heero is realizing that it's not so impossible. That it is in fact very possible. But if the mages had the Fire God on their side, the tables would surely turn. But… how to get him out of that stone?

Eventually, the young rider gives up on trying to fall asleep and climbs out of bed. He carefully creeps out of the house, and jogs a little ways away before whistling for Wing. He doesn't want the beat of the dragon's wings to wake Mrs. Winner, Quatre, or Trowa.

Wing touches down in front of the young rider and Heero hurries up Wing's arm and onto his back. Wing takes off and takes Heero where he wants to be taken; the cave. The white dragon drops the rider off in front of the cave entrance and lights a stick on fire for the young rider.

Heero hurries through the cave, following the single path leading through the mountain. When he gets the open cavern, he slows down and looks for the crack leading into the space where the boy in the stone is.

He wiggles through the rock, then holds up his light to the mass of stone. The boy is still sitting there, perfectly preserved in the stone. Heero lowers his light as he walks up to the stone.

He raises his hand to the clear rock, but then hesitating, weighing the benefits and risks to touching the rock. He could die. That was a big problem. But not everyone died when they touched the rock. He could survive. Possibly… But what family did he have to go home to? He had Quatre as a best friend, Mrs. Winner took him in, and had a bond stronger than blood with Wing. On the other hand, if he could get this boy out, the fire mage could end the war and save the world. It would all be worth it, right?

Heero took a deep breath, sucked up his courage, then closed the distance between his fingers and the rock.

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**So? Still good? Please tell me what you think. Cause I really wanna know ^-^**

**And I have another AU finished, it just needs some editing. So I'll work on that and hopefully I'll get that posted soon for you guys too. Two stories at once! Amazing right? Well I feel bad for going on complete hiatus for the past few months, so I'm trying to make it up to you guys. I don't know if I'll have it ready for you guys soon or if it won't be ready until after this one is complete, but we'll see. Hopefully... That is if I even finish getting through editing it. I should get it done though... I'm not working on anything else at teh moment... Okay I'll stop rambling now XD Byeeeee :)  
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	4. Chapter 3

**Yay new chapter. Thanks for the reviews, and also thanks to those of you that favorited it *luvs alls of you ^-^***

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Chapter 3

Calloused fingers come in contact with smooth stone and the young rider tenses, waiting for a reaction. But nothing happens. Heero releases the breath he had been holding with a slight chuckle. He presses his hand flat against the clear stone. He fells the immense power surging through the rock and marvels at it.

"So you let me touch it… Will you let me try to get you out?" the rider asks the fire mage.

He steps back and draws his sword. He touches it to the stone, but doesn't get the same reaction as earlier. The end of the sword sparks and shock runs up sword and lightly shocks the rider's arm. He jumps back, dropping the sword with a clatter and nearly dropping his torch. He frowns.

"If you won't let the sword touch the rock, then how am I going to get you out?"

Silence greets him and he sighs, moving his fingers to the stone. Again he's able to touch the rock. But he won't be able to get the boy out with just his hands. He needs tools of some sort, but it's obvious that the fire mage won't let him use them.

Heero stands there for a while longer, his mind on overdrive, trying to figure out how to get the boy out without using anything except his hands. He wasn't coming up with anything…

"We need you," the rider tells the boy. "The war is continuing faster than ever before. If you joined our side we'd be able to defeat Treize and his army."

Heero removes his hand from the stone and picks up his blade, sheathing it at his waist. He turns to leave, needing to get back home before anyone notices that he's gone.

"I'll be back," he promises the boy in the clear rock before wriggling out of the cavern and hurrying back to his awaiting dragon.

When he gets back to the mountain face, he extinguishes his light, then mounts the dragon. The dragon dives down the mountain face and flies towards the village, but then suddenly dips down to just above the forest, altering his course.

"Where are we going?" the rider asks the dragon. "We need to go home."

The dragon lands and trots through the trees a ways until he finds two figures running through the underbrush.

"Quatre? Trowa? What are you doing out here?" the startled rider asks.

"We could ask you the same thing," Quatre retorts. "Why were you up in the mountain? Is that where you went this morning?"

"I was just… I wanted to see…" the rider stutters, trying to come up with an explanation. He couldn't come up with one, so he decided to just show then what he discovered. "Climb on. I need to show you guys something."

The two mages look at each other, then relent and climb up onto Wing's back. The white dragon takes off and flies up the mountain face and perches next to the cave entrance. Quatre uses his magic as a source of light and the two mages follow the rider down the path, deeper into the mountain.

When they get to the entrance to the smaller cavern where the fire mage is, Heero is the first to squeeze through the rock wall, followed closely by the other two.

"What is it you have to show us?" the earth mage asks.

"This," is the rider's simple answer.

He holds his hand out and is about to touch the rock when Trowa jumps on him, pulling his arms behind his back.

"You can't touch that!"

"No, I can touch it, watch," the rider protests, lunging forward and pressing his hand to the stone.

Trowa's grip from Heero's arms disappears as the two mages stare in shock at the rider's hand pressed flat against the clear stone.

"Oh my god…" Quatre breathes, then takes a step towards the rock.

Trowa stops him.

"Heero might be able to touch it, but we might not," Trowa says.

"Well let me try," Quatre insists.

"Let me try first," Trowa says, moving his hand towards the rock.

When his fingers get about an inch away from the rock, he gets shocked. He jumps back, clutching his hand to his chest and Quatre gasps. They both turn to look at the dragon rider.

"How are you able to touch it?" Quatre asks me, his voice no louder than a whisper.

"I don't know…" the rider responds.

"You have to get him out," Trowa demands of Heero. "This boy is our last chance to stop Khushrenada and win this war. Since you're able to touch this, you have to get him out."

"What, with my bare hands?" the rider retorts. "You think I don't know that? You think I haven't already tried that? Look."

The rider draws his sword and puts it up against the rock. The entire sword glows with the electricity that radiates through it. But suddenly it stops with a large firework of a spark before it reached the rider's hand.

"He doesn't want to hurt you…" Quatre breathes.

"What do you mean?" the rider asks in confusion, his voice shaky and quiet.

"He hurts anyone that tries to touch his rock. Except for you. For some reason he feels an attachment, or an attraction to you. Use that to get him out."

Heero looks down at the chard silver of his sword, and his unharmed hand, then grips the handle with both hands and swings it at the rock with all the force he can muster. A small explosion sends the sword flying away from the rock and Heero is just barely able to hold onto it. But the damage was done. The rock cracks, a long, deep crack that spiders across the surface of the stone. The two mages cheer and the dragon rider lets out a relieved chuckle.

But then suddenly, there is a loud hiss and the cracks glow blindingly bright. The three cover their eyes and turn away. The sound that echoes off the cave walls is comparable to a shriek, until it suddenly cuts off and the light goes out.

Quatre quickly relights his own light and the three boys look up at the rock mass containing the boy. The cracks are gone. Absolutely no trace of them.

"No!" the rider cries, pounding his fist on the rock. "Why don't you want us to save you?"

They stand in silence for a few minutes, then Quatre places a hand on the young rider's shoulder.

"We need to go back. If my mom finds us gone she'll freak out on us…" Quatre tells me. "We'll come back tomorrow. We'll find a way to get him out."

The rider just nods. He lets his fingers drop from the stone, then reluctantly follows the two mages out of the cave. At the entrance of the mountain, Wing is trying to squeeze into the cave, clawing and beating at the rock walls. He heard all that noise with his powerful hearing. He knew there was something going on and he needed to save his master.

"Calm down, Wing!" the rider calls to his steed. "We're alright. Just take us home."

The dragon calms down when he sees his rider emerge from the mountain unharmed. He lies down and lets the three boys climb up onto his back. He flies them home, dropping them off a little ways away from Quatre's house. The three sneak into the house, then up the stairs and into their respective beds.

…

Heero wakes a few hours later just as the sun is rising. He sees that Trowa and Quatre are still asleep and doesn't want to bother waking them up, so he hurries out of the house and calls Wing. The white beast shows up moments later, and Heero jumps up onto his back.

The dragon flies him up the familiar mountain face and sets him down in front of the mouth of the cave. Lighting his torch, Heero starts his trek deep into the mountain, memory leading him the entire way through.

Heero stands in front of the stone for a few moments, just watching the intricate patterns of his tattoos dance across his skin. Heero tries to find shapes in them, but the thin waves of black ink are always moving, never keeping a shape for long. He moves his focus to the wings on the boy's back. He tried to fathom how this human boy could possibly have wings on his back. And the pattern on them was so beautiful… unlike anything the rider had ever seen. He'd seen a few dragons in his time, none of them with multiple colors.

Heero lays his hand on the smooth stone and sighs.

"Why don't you want me to save you? Why do you keep yourself locked away in here?" the rider asks the boy in a soft tone. The rider stares up at the boys' handsome face, then determination sets on Heero's features. "I'm going to get you out of here. I promise you that. If it's something out in the living world that's scaring you into staying in here, then I will protect you. I want to get you out of there not for you to fulfill some prophecy, but because no person deserves to be locked away in stone for one hundred and fifty years."

Heero raises his sword, but then freezes when he sees a flash of unfamiliar movement. He looks up at the boys face to see… no, it can't be. Heero shakes his head, then looks back up. The boy's eyes are open. And he's staring directly at him. Heero finds himself staring into the most beautiful eyes he's ever seen. They're a purple color, but are sparkling with red tints. They are so alive, so vibrant. It's like there's a fire in his eyes.

"Hey! Can you hear me?" the rider yells at the boy, dropping his sword to pound on the rock. "Hey! Get yourself out of there! Get out!"

The boy smiles ever so slightly, then his beautiful amethyst eyes drift closed.

"No! Wait! You need to get yourself out of there!" the rider pounds on the rock harder.

No response. Heero picks up his sword and prepares to swing it. If he had been paying attention, he would've seen the deep breath the boy had taken. But he hadn't been. The second the rider's sword strikes the stone, the stone practically explodes, millions and millions of dust like rock shards flying through the air. Heero drops both torch and sword and falls down to a knee, sliding backwards nearly two feet due to the wind generated from the explosion. The rider was too slow in his attempts to duck his head and cover it with his arm. Bits of rock slice into the bare skin of his hands and face.

After a long moment, when the rock and dust settles, Heero looks up. The base of the spherical clear rock still stood up from the cave floor, its edges sharp and jagged. The entire cavern floor was coated in a fine powder of clear rock, also larger chunks of rock lying mixed in. Heero looks up for the boy and finds him standing in the center of the ring of sharp rock edges. His head is down and his chest heaving. The wings on his back were folded away and moved with the rise and fall of his chest.

Heero just sits there in shock, unsure of what to do. They stay there like that for a long moment, and then the boy slowly raises his head, pulling in a deep breath and turning his gaze to meet Heero's. A small smile tugs and the corner of his lips, then it fades and his eyes roll back in his head. His knees start to buckle and the young rider dives forward to catch the boy before he hits the ground.

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**Still good? Okay so this one is really long and i feel the first like... 14 chapters are really slow. And there are only 31 chapters total. So almost the first half of the fic. Can you guys tell me if its taking too long to pick up? Cause I'll try to fix it. Thanks lots.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry I didn't post last night... I'm gonna post a few chapters today. Hopefully. I never realized how short the chapters are, so I'm going to try to post multiple chapters at a time.**

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Chapter 4

Heero stays seated on the ground, holding the boy in his arms and completely unsure of what to do. Should he just wait here until the boy comes around? Or should he get him out of here and home as quickly as possible?

The rider is already shocked over what had just happened. It obviously wasn't his sword that shattered the rock and freed the boy. The boy must've done it. But why didn't he do it last night? Was it because the other two mages were there? And that got the young rider thinking about how only he was allowed to touch the rock, how the electrical current down his sword stopped before it touched his skin, but Trowa was openly zapped. Heero doesn't know the answer.

The rider shifts his eyes from the boys face down to the bare skin of his arms where his tattoos dance. The rider lifts one hand to run his fingers lightly over the tattoos swirling down his arms. The young rider is so mesmerized by the smoothness and softness of the boy's skin, of the beautiful black tattoos, that he doesn't see the boy's eyes open.

The boy's hand comes up and grabs the rider's hand, stilling his movements. The young rider jumps and looks down at the boy's face. He smiles, then releases Heero's hand and stands up. Heero follows, holding out a hand as the boy wobbles.

"Are you okay?" Heero asks the young mage.

"I'm alright." The boy's voice is lovely and flows just as nicely as his tattoos.

"Are you hungry? Tired?" the rider asks, at a loss of what else to say.

"I was just asleep for one hundred and fifty years. I'm not tired," he giggles. "But I am starving."

"Well come home with me and I'll get you something to eat," the rider offers quickly.

The boy nods. "Thank you."

Heero nods and takes the mage's hand in one hand and picks up the torch with the other. He leads the boy through the cave and out to Heero's waiting dragon.

"What's your name?" the boy asks after a long silence.

"Heero. Heero Yuy," the rider answers.

"My name is Duo," the mage replies. "What kind of magic can you use?"

"I'm not a mage. But I was born in a wind mage village. When my parents were killed, I left. I live with a friend in a light mage village."

"Really? I've never been to a light village," the boy replies, a smile on his face.

Heero smiles in return, then turns his attention back onto his torch. The torch wasn't going to last. It was almost out and they weren't even halfway back yet. The boy notices Heero's concern and raises a hand. A small ball of flame sparks in his palm, lighting the caverns much better than Heero's makeshift torch could. The rider blows out the torch and drops the stick and the two continue their way out to the face of the mountain.

They get out to the mountain face and Wing looks curiously down at Duo, sniffing at him then examining his wings.

"Is this you dragon?" the fire mage asks Heero, running a hand over Wing's muzzle.

"Yeah. His name is Wing," the dragon rider responds.

"He's a beautiful creature…" Heero senses there is something the mage is hiding, judging by the way he's reacting to seeing a dragon.

The two climb up onto the dragon's back and Duo scoots up close behind Heero, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist. Heero blushes.

"Are you okay?" the rider asks.

"Yeah, I've just never flown on a dragon before. I've had no reason to," he giggles, extending his wings out a little. But Heero knows that's not the real reason. There is definitely something else that's bugging the mage. His giggle was forced and he seems… somber.

"I suppose not," the rider smiles. "Hold on tight and keep your wings tucked. We don't want the wind ripping you off."

"It wouldn't be much of a problem if it did though," the mage reminds the rider.

"Right. Take us home Wing."

The dragon takes off and Duo's grip around the rider tightens. He keeps his eyes on Heero. He doesn't know why he feels so comfortable around the handsome rider. He had distanced himself from other people, locked himself away in that rock to escape the power grabbers and their plans to use him. He didn't trust anyone. Except for the rider. When he first saw him when he came with the light mage a few days ago, Duo immediately felt… something for him. He wanted to meet him. But that light mage was with him. And when he did come alone, Duo was too afraid to leave the safe haven of his stone protection. He had removed himself from the world for a reason. But it didn't take long for his attraction to the rider to overpower his need for separation. And when the rider had told Duo that he wanted to get him out not to use his power, but because he wanted Duo to be happy and not alone in a rock, and that he'd protect him, he knew it was time to meet this rider. Duo thought that the rider promising him protection was sweet, although Duo was very capable of protecting himself.

Duo forces his eyes from the rider when the dragon reaches the bottom of the mountain. He sees a very small village and smiles. He'd only ever lived in the Fire Mage capitol of Aries, and had only ever visited large cities such as Virgo and Pisces and Peacemillion. He'd never been in a small village.

The dragon lands in front of Quatre's house and the rider hops off, then offers a hand up to the fire mage.

Just then the front door bursts open.

"Heero where did you go? I woke up and…" Quatre trails off, his eyes going wide when he sees who's with the young rider.

"Oh my god…" Trowa breathes.

Quatre drops to a knee, bowing his head, as does Trowa. The rider chances a glance as the fire mage to see him frowning.

"Please, don't bow to me," he asks the two.

"Sorry, sir," Quatre and Trowa murmur at the same time as they stand up quickly.

"And don't call me sir. My name's Duo."

"Sorry, s— I mean… Duo," Quatre stutters.

It's quiet for a moment, so Heero decides he might as well introduce everyone.

"Uhm, Duo, this is Quatre and Trowa. This is Quatre's house and Trowa is here visiting from the Earth Mage capitol, Libra,"

"Nice to meet you two," Duo smiles, extending his hand.

The two shake his hand and Trowa turns his attention to me.

"How did you get him out, Heero?" Trowa asks me.

"Well, I highly doubt it was me…" the rider clarifies, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well if it wasn't for you, I'd still be in that rock," Duo tells him.

The rider blushes and looks down at his feet.

"Well I'm sure you're hungry, or thirsty, or something. Is there anything I could get you?" Quatre asks him quickly.

"Something to eat would be nice, if that's no trouble," the fire mage shrugs.

"Of course, follow me," he tells the fire mage.

Duo follows the two mages into the house and the dragon rider follows the fire mage. Duo looks around at the small, yet comfortable house. He smiles, wishing that he grew up in a place like this, not smothered in the Aries castle. He could really like it here.

Heero notices Duo's interest and his smile and finds himself smile as well. Quatre leads the four of them through to the kitchen where his mom is preparing lunch for the boys.

"Did you find Heero, dear?" she asks, lifting her eyes from the lunch.

She sees Duo and her eyes widen and she brushes her hands across the front of her apron.

"Oh my goodness. Hello dear," she breathes, then quickly turns back to what she was making. "Would you like something to eat?"

"If it's no trouble," Duo replies politely.

"No problem, dear. No problem at all," she smiles at him. "What's your name, dear?"

"Duo, ma'am," he replies.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Duo."

"The pleasure is all mine."

The light mage pulls up a stool to the table so Duo could sit with them while they ate. Heero chooses a spot next to Duo and Duo gives him a small smile. While they eat, Duo brings up something that's really been bugging him.

"While you guys were in that cave with me… while I was in the rock… I heard you guys talking about something."

Heero notes Duo's nervousness, and also notes how the movement of his tattoos pick up.

"You guys were talking about a war…"

"You don't know about the war?" Quatre asks him.

"Of course he hasn't heard about the war. The war is about fourty years old and he's been in that stone for over one hundred and fifty years," the dragon rider responds.

"Oh right…" Quatre rubs the back of his neck.

"So what is this war you guys are talking about?" Duo asks.

Heero takes a deep breath, then turns to better face the young fire mage. Heero explains everything from the beginning to that moment in time in as much detail as he can. He watches the mage's reactions. It's not good. The pace of his slithering tattoos speed up and his whole body is tense. He can see the anger clear on his face and the fire in his eyes intensifies. When Heero starts to tell him about all the cities that have fallen, fear shines in his eyes.

"What about my homeland? What about Aries?" he asks me.

"As far as we know Treize and his men haven't touched the fire capitol," I reassure him quickly.

The fire mage trusts the word of the rider, but the shock of hearing about this Treize Khushrenada's terror on the entire world, he's finding everything hard to absorb. Although he felt smothered in his homeland, always hated how the elders, especially the Fire Lord, had wanted to control him, set out his own path for him, wanted to use his power for their own greedy purposes, it was still his homeland. He needed to reassure himself that Aries was still there.

"I… I want to see it for myself," he tells the rider, standing quickly.

"Do you need a ride? Because I'll be happy to take you on Wing," Heero tells the fire mage, standing as well

The fire mage shakes his head, raising his wings a little as if to remind the dragon rider.

"Well I don't think you should go alone. Just as we would like you on our side, I'm sure Treize does as well. And unlike us, he won't give you choice if he catches you."

The mage chuckles lightly. "I can take care of myself, Heero. I don't mean to brag, but I can guarantee that I'm ten times more powerful than this Treize person."

The rider frowns. He doesn't doubt that for a second, but he can't help feeling worried for the fire mage. He'd feel so much better if he could go with the young mage.

"How about you bring me along just for company," he suggests.

The fire mage smiles a little and nods. The rider sighs in relief.

"Wait outside for me, I'll be right out," the rider tells the mage.

The fire mage nods and walks out the door.

"You need to keep him safe," Quatre demands of the rider the moment the door is closed behind the mage.

The rider laughs out loud. "If anything it'll be him keeping me safe."

"Just bring him back, Heero. Force him back if he doesn't want to come back. This village is completely isolated. He'll be able to hide here without being found by Khushrenada," Trowa tells me.

The rider snorts. "Like I'll be able to bring him back if he doesn't want to. I think the two of you have forgotten just how powerful he is."

"I'll come back!" Duo calls from outside. "I like it here."

The two mages look down, blushes coming over their cheeks.

"Just bring him back, Heero," Quatre whispers.

The rider nods. "If we aren't back in a week, then assume the worst and hunt him down. Treize can not get his hands on Duo."

They nod and Heero grabs his travel bag, heading outside to where Duo is waiting for him with the white dragon.

"You ready?" the mage asks the rider.

The rider nods and climbs up onto Wing, then lowers a hand to help Duo up. Duo takes that hand and settles down behind Heero, wrapping his arms around the rider's waist.

"Let's go," the mage says.

The dragon leaps off the ground and starts his long flight to the Fire Mage capitol of Aries.


	6. Chapter 5

**Thanks for the reviews. They make me happy ^-^ Here's the next chapter and I hope to post another chapter by tonight. Hopefully I will... So anyway, enjoy :)**

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Chapter 5

One thing the rider learns very quickly about Duo is that he's quite the talker. Duo picks up the conversation as soon as they take off and doesn't stop for hours. But Heero doesn't mind in the least. He loves hearing the mage's voice and if the mage is talking, that means he doesn't have to. The mage tells him all about growing up in the capitol of Aries, discovering his powers- although he doesn't tell what his powers specifically are- and some of the friends he had. Heero finds it hard to believe that he never had a close friend. The fire mage tells Heero he was always a loner. He had a few people he liked to hang out with, but no one that he could really talk to or confide in. And that ate him alive when he discovered that he wasn't a normal mage. When his wings ripped through his back when he was thirteen years old, everyone his age started to avoid him and the adults smothered him.

It's quiet for a moment as that all hangs in the air. But then the fire mage turns the attention onto the young rider.

"What about you? What was your childhood like?" the fire mage asks.

Duo listens carefully as the rider tells him about the small village he grew up in. Everyone was a mage and many were quite powerful at that. But Heero was the one exception. By the age of ten he knew, as did everyone, that he didn't possess the magic that everyone else had. He was left out then, was dubbed the loser by his friends and an anomaly by the adults. Duo realized that their childhoods were similar, that they were both singled out as kids, although for very different reasons. Duo continues to listen as the rider moves on to tell him how a wandering swordsman stayed at their village for a few months and taught him how to wield a sword. That's where the young rider found his strength. He was a naturally gifted sword fighter and it only took him a few months to nearly master the technique. But then the war came to his village. The tiny village stood no chance against Treize's men. He managed to avoid the massacre of his people because he had been out in the forest practicing with his sword. After finding that not a single life was spared, he ran, wandering from city to city, town to town, village to village. Only a few months after leaving his home, he found Wing and bonded instantly with him. And only a few months after finding Wing, he found Quatre.

Duo sits in silence, absorbing all of what was told to him. He felt like he knew Heero really well now, and felt bad for the suffering he's gone through. He felt guilty for complaining about his terrible life. He may be able to sympathize with Heero's being singled out, but at least his friends and family weren't brutally slaughtered.

"I have a question I wish to clarify," Heero states, bringing Duo out of his thoughts.

"Shoot."

"How did you end up in that rock? What led to you taking such drastic actions?"

"The Fire Lord," Duo answers quietly. The rider is barely able to hear it.

"What about the Fire Lord?"

"Maybe I should start by telling you that Khushrenada's plan to take over the world isn't his plan. It originated with the Fire Lord of my time. At least, that's what it seems like. As soon as he realized my powers, Fire Lord Dekim's sights were set on world domination. As I grew stronger, he plotted, using me as his ultimate weapon. I found out about this when he confronted me. I was sixteen and reaching my ultimate potential. I was horrified when I heard his plan. I wasn't going to allow him to use me like that. So I ran. I flew until I couldn't fly any further, then found that cave and sealed myself away. I didn't mean to stay there that long. I just meant to stay there until Dekim was dead. But I woke when someone entered the cavern for the first time. I didn't realize it had been fifty years. And I didn't mean to kill the guy that found me. I just meant to shock him a little, but I miscalculated… I just didn't want him to get me out yet. I forced myself back into a state of sleep again, then woke again up when you came with your friend. When I heard you and Quatre saying how it had been over one hundred and fifty years, I was shocked. I didn't believe you at first, but why would you be lying about that? Then I decided to wait to free myself until I deemed you trustable. I heard you talking about a war, and if you had me you'd win it, and I thought you wanted to use me just as Dekim had. But then, when you were alone, you told me that _you_ wanted to help _me_. You told me you didn't think I deserved to be all alone in that rock. No one has ever cared about me like that before… Everybody has just wanted to use my powers for their own greedy purposes. I've never been thought of as a human… But then again… maybe I'm not…" Duo trails off, realizing he's begun to ramble.

It's silent for a moment before Heero speaks up. "If it's any consolation… I think you're human."

The fire mage smiles and rests his head against Heero's shoulder. "Thanks," he murmurs. "So does this make us friends?"

"I think it does. After going through what I've been through, I know how hard it is, and how miserable it is to be alone. I don't think anyone should go through that. I'm lucky to have found Wing and Quatre and Trowa. But you… you've been cut off and alone for so long. You deserve a friend to. And I'm happy to be that friend."

Duo smiles, trying to fight the unfamiliar surge of emotions he's feeling. He really feels he can really trust this rider, that he won't ever use Duo for power. And that's all he ever really wanted.

…

"Hey, Duo," Heero whispers.

Duo jolts awake, rubbing his eyes and looking around. He's still resting up against the rider's back, but the dragon beneath him has stopped flying and is landed on the ground. It's dark out and the moon is shining brightly overhead.

"Did I fall asleep?" the mage asks.

"Yeah. Just about an hour and a half ago," Heero tells him.

"Oh… sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Heero smiles. "Uhm… can I get off now?"

"Oh, right," the mage says, quickly letting go of Heero's waist.

The two of them climb down and start to set up camp. Wing turns and stalks off into the trees, most likely to go find himself dinner. The rider had just finished setting up firewood for a fire and when he looked for his dragon to light it, he saw the retreating tail.

"Hey wait! I need you to light this for me!" Heero calls to the dragon. The dragon keeps walking. "Worthless lizard," Heero mutters under his breath. The dragon replies with a loud roar.

The mage laughs. "Here, let me," he suggests, then lifts a hand. A split second later, the wood pile bursts into flame.

"Thanks," The rider smiles, kneeling down and holding his hands out to the warmth.

The fire mage sits next to him, also holding his hands out to the fire.

"Thanks for coming with me," the mage whispers, glancing sideways at Heero.

"No problem," The rider responds.

"No really. I really appreciate you coming with me, dropping everything just to give me company."

"I really don't mind, Duo. And I'm not dropping anything," Heero reminds the mage.

He smiles and the two are quite for a while. Suddenly it starts to rain. Heero curses and pulls a tarp out of his bag. The mage frowns.

"I hate the rain," he grumbles and glares up at the sky. He gets a look of concentration on his face, then stands up and waves his hand at the sky. Nothing happens. "Damn. It worked last time."

Heero waves the mage underneath the tarp with him and the mage doesn't hesitate to take up the offer.

"What do you mean 'it worked last time'?" The rider asks him.

"My fire magic is the only thing I can really control because that's a natural power. Everything else just… happens. When Dekim figured that out, he put me through rigorous training to learn how to control it. I can somewhat control certain things, but other things I have absolutely no control over."

"I'm really curious though… I hope you don't mind me asking, but everyone is always saying that you have this amazing power, but… maybe I just have a terrible imagination, but—"

"You are wondering what powers I could possible have that makes me so special," Duo finishes the sentence for the rider.

"Sorry, I know that's a little—"

"Don't worry about it. I don't mind. And as for your question… my power is… anything really. I've obviously frozen myself in a chunk of stone, I've changed the weather, I've actually used other types of magic, I've changed my appearance once…"

"You changed your appearance?" Heero asks.

"Yeah. After accidentally catching my hair on fire for only the millionth time, I got frustrated and my hair just disappeared. Not gone as in bald, but gone as in really short, shorter than yours. Thank Goddess that it came back after a minute or two," he giggles, grabbing at his hair with the hand not helping to hold up the tarp. "I think that's what happened with these too," he adds, pulling on one of his wings.

"What else can you do?" The rider asks quietly.

Duo just shrugs. "Like I said most things just happen. Things I can't begin to describe or explain. But when I really lose control is when I'm angry." His raises his knees to his chest and rests his chin on them. "I almost took out all of Aries once. It was when Dekim told me his plan to use me to gain power. I told him I didn't really want to but he got mad and told me I had no choice. I kinda just lost it. I don't even really remember doing anything. When I came back to myself, people were unconscious, there was blood everywhere, I guess they had tried to restrain me because broken chains and cuffs were on the ground, the main part of the city was in flames, and everyone was looking at me like I was a monster. It was easy to put the flames out, being a city full of fire mages, but the damage was still done…"

"I'm sorry," the young rider murmurs.

The mage simple shrugs. "There's nothing to be sorry for. What happened has happened."

Wing steps out of the trees then, curling up behind us and lifting a wing over the top of us to keep us dry.

"Thanks bud," Heero tells his steed, then pulls two blankets out of his bag and hands one to Duo. "We should get some sleep. We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning."

The mage nods and curls up on the ground under the outstretched wing. The rider ventures out to find some large stones. He puts them in the fire to warm them up.

"What are you doing?" the mage asks him.

"Warming up the stones. We can put them around us so that we'll stay warm."

"That will take forever," Duo tells him. "Let me."

The rider puts the rocks down in front of Duo and he warms them up in seconds. He tucks a few around him, then Heero lies down and positions the rest around himself. Duo falls asleep quickly, his light snoring nearly masked by the sound of rain patter on Wing's wing. Heero lies awake for a while, though. His mind is busy thinking over everything Duo has told him. Although many questions were answered, twice as many arose. Heero sighs and closes his eyes. He'll talk to Duo more about it tomorrow. They have another long day of flying ahead of them.


	7. Chapter 6

**Yay another chapter XD Hopefully I'll be able to post two chapters at a time from now on, but don't get your hopes up. I might forget or run out of time... :/ Anyway, I drew a map on Paintshop of this land. I used it a lot while I was writing it, so I thought you guys would like to see it too.**

http:/ /myzoey04 . deviantart . com / #/ d3ae wb0

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Chapter 6

The fire mage wakes very early in the morning. Heero is still asleep, and by the sounds of the heavy breathing behind him, he guesses that the dragon is too. Listening carefully, Duo notices that it's not raining. He smiles and tries to wiggle out from underneath the great white wing without making too much noise. He manages the feat without waking either the rider or the steed.

Duo goes about cleaning up camp, so that when the rider wakes, there wouldn't be anything left to do except mount up and be on their way. He gets the tarp and his blanket packed away in Heero's bag, then looks down at the fire pit. He tosses the stones away into the forest, then frowns at the ashes in a suspicious circle on the ground. He raises his hands over the ashes and concentrates. Not a moment later, he's managed to get the ashes to levitate.

"Yes," he hisses under his breath with a grin, then waves his arms and the ashes scatter everywhere.

The fire mage dusts off his red and gold tunic, then looks around to make sure everything is ready for their departure. All that's left, he notices, are Wing's deep footprints. Once the beast gets off into the air, he'll wipe those just for good measure.

Duo just stands there a moment, looking at the ground. It felt so nice to be free. Being in that stone for so long has made him rusty. Not only did his body feel stiff, but his magic wasn't as powerful. That trick he tried to do last night with the rain was something he's always been able to do without much thought. He'd have to retrain himself.

The mage stretches his wings out behind him. That was also something he was curious about. After he got his wings, it had taken him forever to learn how to fly with them. He wondered how long it would take him to relearn it.

He crouches a little, about to take off when he hears the sound of rustling underneath Wing's wing. He straightens and turns back to see Heero emerge, rubbing his eyes.

"How long have you been awake?" the rider asks him.

"Not too long. I cleaned up camp, so all that's left is to saddle up and hit the road. Or the sky. Whatever," Duo jokes.

The rider nods and shoves his blanket into the bag, then climbs up on Wing's back. He lowers a hand to Duo who seats himself right behind the rider. As the dragon takes off, Duo sweeps his arm, palm facing down, and all the footprints disappear.

"So if we fly all day and take as few stops as possible, we should reach Aries by dusk," Heero tells his passenger.

"Sounds good," Duo replies, then frowns. "I want to apologize for last night, if I made you feel awkward or anything… I tend to talk a lot and sometimes the stuff I ramble on about isn't the most pleasant of memories…"

"No need to apologize, Duo," the rider replies, chancing a glance over his shoulder at the mage. "I like hearing your voice. And I think it helps make you feel better to talk about stuff like that."

"Thanks."

"Any time."

It's quite for a while, the only noise being the sound of the wind rushing by as Wing continued on his course to Aries. It wasn't long though before the fire mage began to chat. Heero smiles to himself as Duo begins to ramble on and on about seemingly nothing.

"… and then he…" Duo pauses to laugh, "… then he accidentally lit our instructor on fire. It was so funny. Needless to say he failed the class."

The rider laughs along with Duo, enjoying hearing all these stories from when he was growing up.

"Did I tell you about when I got my wings, and that it scared my dragon half to death?" Duo asks.

Heero turns to look back at Duo. "You had a dragon?"

The smile of his face falls and he ducks his head, resting it against the rider's strong shoulder.

"Yeah. Her name was Shinigami. Shini for short. I found her when she was still a hatchling. I think she was a runt and her mom abandoned her or something. But I brought her home and cared for her. I wasn't lying to you before when I told you that I had never ridden a dragon before… I never rode her."

"What happened to her? I know Wing would never leave me alone for this long."

He's quiet for a second and Heero mentally kicks himself for asking such personal questions.

"She died," is his short, simple answer.

Heero's heart drops. He knows how strong a bond can be between a dragon and its master. There have been incidents where dragons have killed themselves by starving themselves after the death of their rider. And with humans, a rider who lost his dragon will almost never find another steed. Heero knows that if he ever lost Wing, he'd be devastated.

"I'm so sorry, Duo. I didn't know…"

"You have nothing to be sorry for. You couldn't have saved her. I should've been able to though…" he murmurs.

The way the fire mage said that makes the rider think that it wasn't the Goddess that took his dragon from him, that it was foul play. But he refrains from asking, knowing how hard it must be for the poor mage. This boy's life really was hard and unfair. Hoping it'll cheer him up, he asks the mage about what he was going to tell him.

"Oh, right. She flipped out when I got my wings. I don't think she thought I was me for a little while, then she started to treat me like I was another hatchling she could play with. Thank the Goddess I had had enough training to be strong enough to handle her or she probably would've killed me," he chuckles.

The rider breathes a sigh of relief in knowing that the mage obviously felt at least a little better. The rest of the flight continued without much incident. Duo continued to babble and Heero continued to listen, making sure his questions wouldn't be too personal before he asked them. Once the sun started to get low in the sky was when Duo started to get anxious. He started constantly looking around, searching for his homeland.

"There," Heero points out, being the first to spot the massive city.

The mage spots it and suddenly stands up. Heero nearly freaks out before he realizes that if Duo fell off, it wouldn't be much of an issue. The rider slows the dragon, not wanting to get too close to a big city. Especially one that knows Duo.

"No take me closer," Duo pleads. "Please."

"Little closer, Wing. Fly lower to ground level," the rider instructs his dragon.

Wing does as told, diving and flying closer to the capitol. Duo loses his balance a little and Heero instinctively reaches up and grabs the hem of the mage's tunic to keep him on. The mage has no problem rebalancing himself though, and he never once takes his eyes off of the expansive city.

"Does that flag look purple to you?" he asks the rider, pointing towards the great castle.

The rider's heart sinks. Purple is the color of Epyon, Khushrenada's kingdom. Heero prays that the flag isn't a purple one, that it's just a trick of the setting sun. But the closer they get and the better they can see it, Heero realizes it is indeed a purple flag. Heero tells Wing to stop.

"That's weird… Aries's flag is red, not purple. I wonder if that changed since I was gone."

Heero debates not telling Duo what that really means, but he knows that Duo needs to know.

"Uhm, Duo?"

"Yeah?" the mage responds, still staring at the city.

"That's not the flag of Aries." The rider takes a deep breath and stands up with Duo. "It's the flag of Epyon."

Duo turns and raises an eyebrow at the rider. "What do you mean? Did we go to the wrong city instead of Aries?"

"No, Duo. This is Aries. Or what used to be Aries." Now to clarify this. "Epyon is Treize Khushrenada's kingdom."

Shock falls across the mage's face. "Treize as in…"

"Yeah. The guy that's trying to take over the world."

The mage's hand comes up to cover his mouth. Shock and anguish cover his face, but then suddenly, his hand drops and an expression of hatred and fury come over his face. The tattoos covering the boy's hands and neck pick up speed, slithering heatedly across his skin. The clear blue sky starts to darken as angry grey clouds roll in. Lightning strikes somewhere in the distance.

"Duo?" the rider asks hesitantly.

"How did he take Aries? Aries is invincible. Nobody can defeat Aries…"

"Duo, I'm so sorry. I had no idea that Treize had gotten to your homeland. Aries is on the other side of Epyon than Libra, so Trowa probably never heard of its falling."

Duo didn't seem to hear anything that the rider is telling him. Suddenly, he spreads his wings and jumps. Heero grabs for him. He can't let this mage fall into Treize's hands. He catches Duo's ankle and the mage falters, his wings struggling.

"Let go of me!" he cries at the rider. He spins around and thrusts his palm out at Heero. A strong gust of wind slams him in the chest and he falls backwards, releasing Duo. Wing catches Heero and the rider looks up to see Duo struggling to fly. Heero guesses that not using his wings in so long has made it hard for the mage to use them again.

"Catch him!" Heero demands of his steed, climbing back up onto his back.

The dragon lunges forward and dives up underneath the falling mage. Heero catches his arm and pulls him down in front of him. The boy struggles, yelling curses at the rider, demanding that he let him go.

"Duo shush!" the rider yells at him, clamping a hand across the Duo's mouth.

The mage stills for a moment, glaring at Heero.

"Duo, calm down."

The mage pulls the rider's hand from his mouth. "How can I calm down? My homeland fell under attack and I wasn't able to protect it! There's nothing for me to do now. No reason to fight anymore." The mage bows his head, trying to hide the tears from the rider.

Heero lifts Duo's head and wipes away the few tears that trickled down his cheeks.

"There's no reason to fight anymore? Do you truly believe that?" the rider asks the troubled mage.

The mage nods.

Heero frowns. "Then I have something I need to show you. Due east, Wing."

Wing turns and takes off, shooting across the sky parallel to Aries. Duo turns so that he's facing forward with Heero sitting behind him. Either he's still trying to come to terms with what has happened to his home, or he's ignoring Heero, because Duo doesn't say anything for hours. He just sits in front of Heero with his head hanging. Occasionally the rider will hear the boy sniffle and wipe his eyes. It hurts Heero to see the mage in pain like this and longs to reach out and hold him, comfort him, but he refrains, letting the mage have time to himself to come to terms.

Heero hopes that what he's about to show the young mage will give Duo determination to keep fighting. Heero prays that it's still there, that they haven't missed it. But soon enough, they find it nearing the border of Cancer.

"You see that?" Heero points over the mage's shoulder to the caravan of people about three miles from Cancer.

"What is that?" Duo asks, his voice quiet.

"People. They are the only survivors from Khushrenada's attack on the Wind Capitol of Virgo. Virgo had a population of nearly eight hundred thousand people. Now there are only three hundred. And they've been walking for weeks from their fallen city to Cancer. But once they get to cancer they'll join the near million people evacuating the city because of Treize's now easy access to it. And you say that there is no longer any reason to fight?"

The mage stands up and stares in shock at the mass of people all traveling to the huge city off in the distance. Heero gives him a few minutes to let all that sink in.

"And just as there were Virgo survivors, I'm sure there are Aries survivors somewhere. Taurus, the Light Mage capitol, is near Aries isn't it? I'm sure that there are Aries survivors there."

"I have to fight with you guys," is the whispered reply from the fire mage.

Heero releases a deep breath and relaxes. It worked. He had a feeling that Duo would agree to continue to fight against Khushrenada when he saw these homeless victims. He wasn't heartless. He wouldn't turn his back on these people when he could help them.

"So I think it's time we don't run and hide from Treize and his armies. With you, we now have chance to stop him," Heero says.

Duo sits down back in front of Heero, still staring down at the hundreds of people. Heero tells Wing to head back to Quatre's village. He needed to pick up at least Trowa, if not Quatre too, and head back to Cancer to help. He wanted to get Duo to meet with the Thunder Lord and discuss their plans for going after Khushrenada.

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**Poor Duo... Did you like? I hope so ^-^ Please review!**

**Also... **ShinigamiDeathscytheSan** drew me two pics from this fic. The links are here. Thanks Duo! ^-^**

http:/ /dannyluvr58 . deviantart . com / #/ d3a evxf

http:/ /dannyluvr58 . deviantart . com / #/ d3a evsv


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The dragon touches down in front of Quatre's house and Heero jumps off. Duo follows, still feeling kind of numb from learning of the fate of his home. The rider finds Trowa in the front room with Quatre.

"I need to speak with you," the rider tells the Earth Mage heir.

"Sure," Trowa frowns, sensing the urgency in the rider's voice.

"Privately," Heero clarifies, seeing Mrs. Winner walk through with one of Quatre's sisters. "You too."

The two mages stand and follow Heero and Duo outside where Wing is still waiting for them.

"So what's going on? Is Aries all right?" Trowa asks, crossing his arms.

"No. It's not," the rider replies, glancing at the rider. "Treize took Aries a while ago by the looks of it."

"I'm sorry, Duo," Quatre tells the fire mage sincerely.

Duo just nods his head slightly.

"Duo has decided to join our side of this war. And there is no time like the present to get moving in this war. Enough people have died already. The Cancer populace is still situated in Cancer and the convoy from Virgo was only three or four miles out when we stopped by, which means that the Thunder Lord is probably still there. We need to take Duo to him, show him that there is still hope, then gather an army."

"Perfect. You take him to Cancer, and I'll head over to Libra with Quatre to get my dad to send troops down to Cancer," Trowa says.

"Well how about you two ride with us. We'll take you to Libra and then head back around to Cancer. It'll take a lot longer on a horse than a dragon," the rider suggests.

"Sounds good with me," Trowa agrees.

"Wait!" Quatre suddenly blurts. "We have a serious problem…"

The rider and the earth mage raise an eyebrow at the young light mage.

"My mom…" Quatre points out.

The two chuckle, but Duo remains silent. Quatre runs back in the house to talk to his mom. While he does that, the rider goes about unpacking, then repacking his bag for their next trip. Suddenly there's shouting coming from within the house.

"I'll be fine, mom!"

"This isn't a field trip we're talking about! This is a war!"

"But mom!"

"You can't go out there! You won't be safe!"

"I'll be with the Fire God, mom! And Trowa won't ever let anything happen to me!"

"Absolutely not!"

Suddenly, Duo moves from Heero's side and walks quickly into the house. Heero tries to go after him, but Trowa stops him with a hand on his arm. After a few minutes, Duo emerges with Quatre behind him. The fire mage walks straight to the dragon's side and flaps his wings once, sending him up into the saddle.

"Let's go." His voice is monotonous, unfeeling.

Heero nods and climbs up in front of Duo. Quatre jumps up behind Duo, and Trowa behind him. Once the four are situated, Wing takes off, heading straight for the Earth Mage capitol of Libra.

After a few hours, Duo finally seems to come out of his stupor and rests his head on the rider's shoulder. The rider can't fight the smile as tattooed arms wrap around his waist. Heero watches as the tattoos visible on his hands pick up pace a little. He wonders what that means and decides to ask the mage about that later. Moments later, the tattoos slow to a crawl and Heero hears deep breathing coming from Duo, telling the rider that he fell asleep.

The other two mages are silent, most likely going over the new information they heard. Trowa asks the rider a few questions which Heero tries to answer to the best of his knowledge. A majority of the earth mage's questions are concerning Duo, but Heero won't allow Trowa to wake him up to answer them.

The sun begins to set and Heero is about to nod off himself. They are still about six hours out from Libra, so Heero brings the dragon down to the forest floor so they can set up camp. Heero carefully unwraps the fire mage's arms from around his waist, then turns and scoops Duo up into his arms. The rider is surprised at how light the boy is, especially considering that he has the added weight of a set of wings on his back. Wing lays down for him and Heero slides down the dragon's shoulder. Duo doesn't wake and Heero release a relieved breath.

"Can you lay down a blanket?" the rider asks Trowa, who is holding Heero's bag.

Trowa nods and lays the blanket down. Heero sets the fire mage down, then starts to set up a fire.

"There are only two blankets. I didn't think you two would mind sharing one, then I'll share the other with Duo," Heero informs the other two mages.

"We don't mind," Trowa spoke for the both of them, helping Heero gather some sticks to light a fire.

"Good. And you two can set up next to us so that if it rains, Wing can cover all of us."

Quatre nods and lays out the second blanket next to where Duo is still asleep on the other. Wing lights the fire when the sticks were gathered and the three sit around the small fire. Wing heads out to hunt down something for the lot of them to eat. He comes back with a few smaller animals and Heero proceeds to cook them. As they eat, Heero finds himself staring at the young fire mage, but doesn't care.

"You have a thoughtful look in your eyes," Trowa observes as he picks at his rabbit carcass.

"I feel bad for him. His life has been such hell," the rider finds himself explaining, not taking his eyes off of the peaceful features of the sleeping mage.

"_You_ feel bad for him? His life must've been something harsh for you to feel bad for him after all you've gone through," Quatre points out.

"Yeah, but I was just left out because of my difference. He was used. It was bad enough to not be accepted, to be a loner, but I can't imagine what it's like to have friends and caring adults in your life, then realize that they're just with you because they want to use you. He must feel so… betrayed."

"So he told you his story?" Trowa asks.

Heero nods.

"Care to cure our curiosity?" Quatre looks hopefully at the rider.

"No. It's not my story to tell. If Duo decides to tell you, then that's his decision to make. No offense to either of you. I trust you, I just don't know how much he does."

"No, you're right. I shouldn't have asked. That was rude of me," Quatre bows his head.

"I don't know why he trusts me though. Why me? He didn't even know me. He still doesn't really know me. After all the crap he's been through… I just know that if I was in his position, I wouldn't trust a fly," Heero muses out loud.

It's quiet for a moment, then Quatre suddenly says. "You have a soft spot for him."

That gets the rider's attention. His head snaps up and his wide eyes fix on Quatre.

"I… I-It's just… He…" the rider stutters.

Quatre cuts him off, raising a hand to silence Heero. "I'm just saying I can tell you care for Duo. And I think that's a good thing. He definitely needs someone in his life that will treat him as a friend and not as a weapon."

Heero shuts himself up and nods, his gaze drifting back to Duo.

"But I also think there is something more. I'm going to bed," he adds quickly before the rider can argue.

"Me too," Trowa says, laying down behind Quatre and pulling him back into his chest.

Heero stands and walks over to Wing's head. "Keep an eye out, boy. We're close to enemy territory and it's making me uncomfortable."

The dragon huffs a puff of smoke in agreement and nuzzles Heero's chest. The rider hugs his arms around the dragons head and gives him a pat before going to lie down next to Duo.

After nearly an hour, Heero can hear the light snores coming from both Quatre and Trowa and also the not so quite snores coming from Wing, confirming his suspicions that everyone except for him was asleep. He's thinking over Duo's seemingly unsubstantiated trust in the rider. And also what Quatre had said. He senses that Heero has stronger feelings for the young fire mage than just as friends. Heero thinks long and hard about that. He's felt for a while, ever sense meeting Duo, that he has special feelings for him… but was it what Quatre was suggesting? Heero really doesn't know… He shakes his head. He can wait to focus more on that after the war, when he doesn't need all his concentration on defeating Khushrenada.

The rider continues to stare at Duo's sleeping face and watches the thin black tattoos slither lazily across the skin of his neck, stopping and turning around just before they came up onto his jaw. Heero suddenly has the strongest urge to reach out at touch them. He raises a hand and moves it slowly towards the boy's neck. Heero observes in surprise that the tattoos start to speed up as his hand moves closer. He looks at Duo to see if he had woken up. But he sees the deep rise and fall of his chest and the slight movement under his eyes, telling the rider he was still asleep.

Heero moves his hand closer and still the tattoos speed up. Heero begins to wonder what on earth that could possibly mean. He wonders what else changes the speed of the tattoos as well. It seems that they slow when he sleeps, and pick up speed when he's nervous or even frightened. But why now?

Heero drops his hand and the tattoos slow back down to their slow, lazy speed. Heero lets it drop and closes his eyes. He really needed to get to sleep. They would all be getting up early the next morning and taking off.

…

Daybreak the following morning finds four groggy boys packing up their camp and getting ready to leave. Heero keeps an eye on Duo while trying not to seem too conspicuous about it. He's relieved to see the fire mage moving about with a little more of a spring in his step. He's not so upset as he was yesterday. That makes Heero smile. He turns back to his work, feeling a lot less worried about the mage.

Duo was in a really good mood for some reason when he woke this morning. He was still upset over the loss of his homeland, but he had decided that moping around about it wasn't going to change anything. He needed to be strong and fight against Treize to free his people.

It also helped that when he woke up, the first thing he saw was the rider's handsome face merely a foot from his own. He doesn't know what it is about the young rider that has completely captivated him, but he's feels like he's falling for Heero.

Once everything is packed up, the boys all climb up onto the dragon. Trowa in the back wipes the footprints in the dirt as they take off.

The rider turns a little in his seat to address the three boys behind him. "Next stop… Libra."


	9. Chapter 8

**Yay... Another chapter... XD But this will be the last one today... I still have to go do my homework O.o stupid precal... stupid chem... XD Enjoy!**

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Chapter 8

The great capitol of Libra finally comes into view after a few hours of flying. Heero lands the dragon just outside the front gates. The guards there wave at Heero, having seen him and recognize him from the few times he's accompanied the earth mage here.

Once Trowa and Quatre are let into the city, Heero gives the dragon the signal to continue on to Cancer. If they were to fly straight, it would take them almost an entire day to arrive there. But that path would take them almost right through Epyon. So they'd take a longer route, adding an hour or two onto the flight, possibly making it a two day trip.

It's quiet between the remaining two boys, neither of which knowing what to say. Heero has a question for the young mage, and he decides that there's no time like the present to ask him, especially since they're alone now.

"Why do you trust me so much?" the rider asks.

The question startles Duo a little bit. Where did that come from? "What do you mean?"

"Why do you trust me so much? Why was I the only one you let touch your stone, and why did you tell me your story? We hardly know each other. If I was in your position, I probably wouldn't trust anybody. Why do you trust me?"

"I… I don't know," the mage answers honestly. Why does he trust the rider so much? He feels an attraction towards him that he can't explain. His instincts, which he has come to obey without question, tells him that the cobalt eyed rider would never hurt him. Is that why he trusts him so much? Before he tries to give an actual answer, he wants one of his own. Is there a reason that Heero is asking that question? Is it because Duo shouldn't be trusting him so readily? "Why do you want to know?"

"It's just because… I don't know… I'm just curious. I want to know what I did that makes you so ready to trust me. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you trust me and you should trust me, but I just don't know why you do," Heero struggles.

"I just do. My instincts tell me that you won't hurt me, and I always listen to my instincts," Duo shrugs.

Silence falls between them once again and this time it's a slightly awkward silence. But then, Heero decides he should tie up some loose ends.

"They're right."

"Huh?" the mage asks, confused.

"Your instincts. They're right. I won't ever hurt you."

Duo smiles and rests his head back onto the rider's shoulder. "Is it sad that I've only known you for a few days, yet you are the closest thing I've ever had to a friend?"

"No. It's not sad. It's just because everyone else you've known is an asshole," the rider retorts.

Duo actually giggles. It makes Heero smile knowing that the mage is obviously feeling better.

"Thanks," the mage tells the rider.

"No problem."

This time the silence between them isn't uncomfortable. They fly for hours and hours like that, only stopping once to stretch their legs. It's nearing dusk and Heero feels they're going to make it. They're coming up on the river, which means that they're almost there, considering Cancer is just on the other side.

"So what's our plan?" Duo asks.

"We talk to the Thunder Lord, get him to agree to fight back against Treize. We'll stay situated in Cancer, although we'll continue with the plan to evacuate citizens. Hopefully Trowa will return within a few days with word that the Earth Lord is sending troops. One problem might be getting the troops over here to Cancer. They'll have to march right by Epyon and I'm sure Treize will not like that. But the Earth Lord is smart, so he'll know to send them the long way. It'll just take a few extra days… If all that goes through, we'll call out to other remaining cities that we need help. Hopefully we'll amass an army big enough to overpower Treize's."

"That might take a while. While we're waiting, I'll work on my training more. Things that used to take absolutely no effort are hard to do now. I really need to get my powers back under control before we go off to battle. So what'll happen once we gather an army?" the fire mage questions.

"I don't know. I'll leave that up to the army generals. I'm not much of a strategizer."

Duo frowns. "Really? Because I pegged you as the guy who could always come up with a good plan. Let's see who's right. What would you do if it were your decision? We'll compare that to the strategy the generals lay down and see how good of a strategizer you are."

Heero doesn't answer him right away, thinking up a plan in his head. "I'd probably…" he pauses, thinking it over again. "I'd probably not head straight off to Epyon. Treize is very strong, and no doubt has his strongest soldiers there in Epyon. I would probably start off reclaiming the cities he's seized, starting with Virgo not only because it's the closest, but because it's fall was recent."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," the fire mage shrugs.

Heero lets out a chuckle. "Thanks."

Once they reach the other side of the river, Cancer comes into sight. The two boys look on in relief as the city grows bigger and bigger. Suddenly, five dragon riders pop out of nowhere about one hundred yards in front of the two. Heero smiles, but then that smile fades when he sees the closest one draw his bow and fire an arrow at them. Heero moves in front of Duo to protect him as the arrow whizzes by.

Heero waves his arms at them. "Stop firing! We're on your side!"

"If you are truly on our side, then disarm yourself!" he shouts back.

Heero quickly removes his belt with the sword sheath attached and tosses it into the air. Wing catches it for him.

"If one or both of you are a mage, hands above your head, palms together!"

Duo raises his hands above his head, doing as the guard tells him. The dragon knights fly up next to them.

"Name, homeland, and business," the leader commands.

"Heero Yuy, the L4 light colony, and I'm here to speak to the Thunder Lord regarding the war."

The knight shifts his glare to Duo. His frown deepens and his grip on his sword hilt tightens. Heero can see him trying to figure out the meaning behind the boy's tattoos and his wings.

"Duo Maxwell, Aries, same as him."

"Aries fell nearly fifteen years ago and you aren't much older than that, son. Where do you reside now?"

"Uh… I guess the L4 light colony…" Duo stutters.

"You guess?"

"Sir, this is the Fire God. He's agreed to help fight on our side of the war," Heero tries to explain.

"The kid that's been missing for over one hundred and fifty years?" the knight raises an eyebrow. "Well that would definitely explain the tattoos and the wings. You've come at a bad time, boys. The entire city is evacuating as we speak. A caravan over a million strong is leaving once that sun sets behind those mountains."

"Well are the army and the Thunder Lord staying?" Heero asks.

"Yes."

"Then that's all that matters. We need to talk to the Thunder Lord," the young rider insists. "Please."

"We'll take you into the city but whether or not the Thunder Lord agrees to speak to you is up to him."

"Fine," the rider relents.

The dragon knight turns and starts off towards the city. Wing follows, and the remaining four knights follow behind. The city is a very large city. It takes them a good fifteen minutes to reach the palace walls in the middle of the city. They land the dragons outside the front doors and the lead dragon knight takes Heero's sword from Wing. Duo and Heero follow him through the tall doors and into the palace.

The dragon knight leads them quickly down the main hall and to a large door at the end. The two boys look around. Duo had been to large capitols like this, and lived his entire childhood in the Aries castle, so this was nothing special for him. But Heero had only ever lived in small villages. In his journey down to Quatre's small village, he had stayed in large cities and towns for a night or two. But it was just inside the walls, in the streets. Never had he set foot in a large palace like this.

When they get to the big door that Heero had assumed was their destination, they turn right down the adjacent hallway. They continue down to the end of that hall and get to another large door. This time, two guards open in for the three of them and they step inside. It's a large square room with only a circular table and a few chairs as furniture. A map of the land was etched into the large table and four men were leaning over it, arguing heatedly.

"My Lord," the dragon knight addresses, pausing by the door.

One of the men looks up. Duo can't tell whether or not he's the Thunder Lord. He's dressed in a normal tunic and doesn't stand out in any way.

"My Lord, these two boys were found approaching the city on their dragon. They demanded to speak to you in regards to the war," the knight informs him, then hesitantly adds, "I think one of them is the lost Fire God."

"You think?" questions the man Duo assumes is the Thunder Lord.

"Yes, your highness. He sure looks like him."

"Step forward, please," the Thunder Lord asks of Duo in a surprisingly kind manner.

Duo does as told and Heero fights to keep from stepping in front of him to protect him. The Lord steps forward and gives Duo a once over, picking up one of his hands to examine the tattoos and sweeping a hand across the thin membrane of Duo's wings. Duo fights to keep from shying away. He really doesn't like this man touching him. When he steps back, he looks Duo up and down.

"Your wings and tattoos seem genuine…" he states, then frowns. "Prove you're the Fire God."

Duo doesn't really know what to do. At a complete loss, he holds out his hand, palm up, and creates a flame. The Lord exhales and shakes his head.

"Yes, I know you're a fire mage. Show me something I've never seen before. Show me something that only the Fire God will ever be able to do."

Duo locks eyes with the Thunder Lord and smiles a small smirk. The other three men and a few guards step closer to the Lord, a little troubled by the look Duo is giving him. Then, without taking his eyes off the Lord, he makes the table and chairs levitate. Everyone in the room gasps, and Heero even stands up a little straighter.

The Thunder Lord smiles and Duo lets everything drop down to the ground.

"I'm sorry, my dear boy," the Lord apologizes, his firm attitude completely dissolving into a light, carefree attitude as he steps forward and extends a hand towards the fire mage. "In this day and age, you learn to trust no one and take extra precaution, especially if you are trying to keep a kingdom alive. Now, how may I help you boys?"


	10. Chapter 9

**Sorry I haven't posted anything in the past few days. I wasn't home really at all on friday and saturday was pretty busy too. But I'm doing absolutely nothing today, so I'll try to post a few chapters. I've already gone over teh next chapter so that will be posted shortly. Thanks for your patients. Enjoy :)**

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Chapter 9

Duo tentatively shakes the Thunder Lord's hand, but he doesn't know how to answer the Lord's question, so he lets Heero step forward and answer it for him.

"I think we can help you, sir," Heero tells the Lord. "Duo wants to join our side of the war. I also am friends with the heir to the Earth Lord and on our way here, we stopped by Libra so my friend could talk to his father and send troops. Hopefully, with Duo's help, we'll be able to also recruit troops from Pisces and Taurus and Peacemillion, etc."

The Lord's eyes begin to widen. "You mean to say that Libra is sending troops here?"

"Hopefully, your highness. We didn't stick around to find out the Earth Lord's decision. We wanted to get here as soon as possible. But word from Libra should be here within the next day or two from the Earth Lord's heir," the rider replies.

"Excellent!" the Thunder Lord cheers. "We may actually have a chance in this war now! This is marvelous! We'll send word to Pisces, Peacemillion, Taurus, Sanq, Aquarius…"

"We'll do that, sir," the rider volunteers. "They might need to see Duo to believe that he is back."

"True, true. But that can wait until we have word from Libra. I'm sure you two have been traveling for a while. You should rest. I'll have someone show you to your rooms. Please, make yourselves at home." He relays those orders to a guard, then turns back to the two boys. "My men didn't confiscate anything from either of you, did he?"

"I have his sword, sir."

"Well give it back, give it back!"

The dragon knight hands Heero back his sword and Heero secures the belt around his waist.

"What are your names?" the Thunder Lord asks the two boys.

"I'm Heero Yuy," the rider bows.

"Duo Maxwell."

"It's nice to meet the both of you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm in a meeting with my generals that really needs to be finished," he excuses himself, then turns and heads back to the other three men.

The two boys follow the guard out of the room and back out into the main hallway. They take the staircase up to the second floor and down another long hallway.

Heero was wary of the Thunder Lord at first, but once he was no longer suspicious of the two of them and had lightened up, Heero found that he really liked the man. He seemed nice, and caring. Just as a Lord should be.

Duo was also deciding that he liked the man. He had really disliked that the Lord had inspected him, but he shouldn't have expected less. The man was just trying to protect himself and his people.

The guard stops at a door and opens it for the two of them.

"One of you can use this room, and the other can use this one." He walks to the adjacent wall and opens a door into the next room. "Unless you would prefer not having connected rooms."

"No, this is fine," the rider replies at the same time as Duo also disagrees.

The guard leaves them alone and Duo sits heavily on the bed. Heero frowns, but doesn't approach the mage.

"Are you alright?" the rider asks.

"Yeah… I just forgot how much I don't like cities," he frowns. "I know that the palace is big, but being in one always makes me feel… trapped. I don't know how to explain it…"

"Well I need to go outside to check on Wing. Would you like to come?" the rider offers.

"Yeah."

The two leave the room and head down to the front door just as the sun sets behind the mountains, plunging everything into darkness. The moment they are out in front of the palace, the big white dragon swoops in and slides to a stop in front of them. He nuzzles Heero's chest, nearly knocking the young rider over. Duo giggles.

"What's your problem, you big lump? We were only gone for a few minutes," the rider questions the beast. Then he remembers what the guard said about the caravan leaving at sun down. "Do you want to go see the caravan off?"

"Sure," the mage replies.

Heero climbs up the dragon's arm and Duo uses his wings to propel him up onto the dragon's back. Wing bounds off the ground and out to the outer wall. He perches on the wall and the three watch as the caravan marches off south to Pisces. Once they get to Pisces, they will cross the river and head over to Sanq. Or so Trowa has told the rider.

Duo sighs heavily, standing up behind Heero. "One man did this. Only one man is causing one million plus people to leave the home they love. How could he do this? How could he be okay with this? And all the people he's killed?" Heero lets Duo speak, not interrupting or imputing his own thoughts. "He needs to be stopped."

"Yes, he does," Heero murmurs.

Duo plops back down behind Heero. He leans forward, leaning his forehead on Heero's back. "It's my fault."

"What?" the rider asks, shocked.

"I shouldn't have stayed in that rock for so long. I should've been there to stop him. I shouldn't have allowed him to do this. So many people have died because of me."

"Duo, don't do that to yourself," Heero tells the mage, turning around to face him. Tears are shining him the mage's eyes. Heero doesn't even think, he just hugs the mage to him. "There was nothing you could've done. Don't blame yourself. Blame Treize, then work your hardest to bring Treize down and avenge all the people he's killed."

Duo nods into Heero's shoulder.

"Let's head back to our rooms. We're both tired and can use some real sleep in actual beds as opposed to on the ground," the rider suggests.

The mage nods and Heero turns around, instructing Wing to fly back to the castle. They hop off and with the rider's command to not get into trouble, the dragon leaves them. The two head up to their rooms, Duo staying in the first room and Heero continuing into the second.

"Good night. See you tomorrow morning," the rider tells the mage.

"Night."

Heero closes the door and pulls off his dirt coated tunic before collapsing in bed. It doesn't take him long to fall asleep.

…

Heero wakes up the following morning, but doesn't want to get up. He's too comfortable. But he has to get up. He needs to discuss plans with the Thunder Lord and should be up when Trowa and Quatre arrive. That is if they managed to get a dragon to ride. If not, it'd take them a week or two on horse to get here. Hopefully they wouldn't have to wait that long.

Heero forces himself to get up and get dressed. He opens the door between his and Duo's room and peeks inside. Duo is still asleep, splayed out across the bed with the sheets rumbled around his waist. His tunic is laying on the ground by the bed, and Heero can't help but notice the scars running all along the mage's back and arms. They're made slightly difficult to see because of the tattoos swirling lazily over his skin, but they are still visible. Heero frowns. He'll have to ask Duo about them some time.

Heero quietly closes the door, deciding that he could let the mage sleep a little bit longer. He cleans himself up a bit, then heads down to hopefully go meet with the Thunder Lord. He wasn't sure what the procedure was to get a meeting with the Thunder Lord, but he hoped that the reason he was here was good enough.

The rider runs into a guard on his way down the hallways and stops him.

"Do you know where the Thunder Lord is?" he asks the guard.

"He should be down in the meeting room with the army generals. Let me take you to him," the guard answers.

The guard turns and heads back down the hallway. Heero follows as he is led back into the same room he met the Thunder Lord in last night. He knocks on the door.

"Yes? Who is it?" the Lord calls through the door.

"Heero Yuy," the guard tells him. "He'd like to meet with you, sir."

"Of course, send him in," the Lord replies.

The guard opens the door for Heero and the rider enters the room.

"Hi there, son. Is something wrong?" the Lord asks him.

"Uhm, no sir. I was just curious as to your plans. For dealing with Khushrenada, I mean," the rider stumbles for words, then rubs the back of his head. "Sorry if I'm being too… forward, sir."

"Not at all, son. We were actually just beginning to go over some possible strategies. Where's Mr. Maxwell?"

"He's still asleep. I could go wake him if you would like though, sir."

"That would be best, considering he will be a main part of our plans," the Lord suggests.

Heero bows, then hurries out of the room and up the stares. He knocks lightly on Duo's door, but doesn't get a response. He tries the door handle, and it opens. Duo is still sound asleep, just as Heero had left him. Heero eases over to Duo and reaches out to shake Duo's shoulder. Duo groans and pulls the pillow over his head. Heero chuckles and takes the pillow. He chuckles more as Duo gropes around for it.

"Duo. Wake up," the rider tells him.

He groans. "I don't wanna…"

"The Thunder Lord wants you to attend his meeting," Heero tells him.

Duo's eyes fly open and with one flap of his wings, he's up and out of the bed. He quickly pulls on his tunic, struggling to get it on around his wings, then pulls the band out of his hair. He runs out of the room while rebraiding his hair, Heero following close behind him. When the two get in front of the room, Duo tries to fix his bangs, but they just flop back in front of his eyes. He sighs and knocks on the door.

"Come in, come in."

The two enter the room and walk up to the Thunder Lord and the three army generals. Introductions were made, then business commenced quickly. Hours are spent going over many things. But when ideas are being put down on the table, each general suggests a different strategy and arguments easily start. Heero listens, keeping his mouth shut. He doesn't like any of their ideas. But he has no place to argue. Duo seems to have different thoughts though. He elbows the rider in the ribs. When Heero looks at him, he mouths 'tell them yours'.

"No," Heero whispers.

"Why not," the mage hisses back.

"What about you boys? Any thoughts?" the Thunder Lord asks.

Heero shakes his head but Duo elbows him in the ribs again and gives him a look. Heero shakes his head again.

"Heero has an idea," Duo suddenly tells them.

The rider glares at the mage, but the mage just returns it with a smirk.

"Well let us here it, son," the Lord asks with a smile.

"It's just a simple plan. I know nothing about strategizing…" Heero replies modestly. "But what if, after we recruit enough troops, we slowly work our way up to Epyon by reclaiming all the cities Khushrenada has seized. It'll be easier to take these other cities as opposed to his homeland. And this way, by seizing these cities back from him, we're showing him that we're stronger than he thinks. It'll hopefully frazzle him and force him to make mistakes. Then, when we do get to Epyon, hopefully he'll be too dumbfounded or put off to really fight us. In theory…"

It's silent in the room and Heero starts to think that maybe he said something wrong, but then the Lord smiles. "That is actually a very good idea. Thanks for you input. It will definitely be considered."

Suddenly the door slams open.

"My Lord! Please excuse the intrusion, but a young earth mage has just arrived. He claims he is the heir to the Earth Lord and demands to speak with you immediately."


	11. Chapter 10

**As promised, here is the next chapter. Hopefully I'll get one or two more posted later on today.**

* * *

Chapter 10

"Is this the friend you were speaking of?" the Thunder Lord asks.

"Yes, sir," Heero replies.

"Let him in! Bring him straight here!" the Lord calls to the guard.

"Yes, My Lord!" Then he takes off back down the hall.

A few minutes later, the guard reappears with Trowa and Quatre behind him. The Thunder Lord eagerly steps forward to greet them.

"It's an honor to have you here in my palace, Mr.…"

"Barton. Trowa Barton. And this is Quatre Winner," Trowa introduces.

"Wonderful," the Lord smiles.

"I just spoke with my father and he agreed to supply troops for this war. He can't leave Libra and can't send a lot of troops because of his proximity to Epyon, but he is sending seven thousand troops along with his Army General," Trowa informs the Thunder Lord.

"Excellent! Five hundred of my troops have left with the caravan, but that leaves fifteen thousand here in the city. With Libra soldiers, that puts is up to twenty-two thousand… I don't have enough room in the barracks for them though, but we'll have tents set up."

"My father is sending them with their own tents, sir," Trowa tells him.

"Perfect. We'll have the other recruits tent with them as well."

"We'll get going on recruiting right away, sir," Heero steps forward.

"Good, good. Head to Pisces first. I think the Water Lord was planning on sending a majority of his troops with the caravan, but I'm sure he'll reconsider if you get there first."

Heero nods and takes Duo's arm, leading him out of the room.

"We'll be back in a week or two," Heero tells Trowa and Quatre on their way past.

The two nod, then turn their attention back to the Lord to discuss other matters. Once outside, Heero whistles and Wing lands just in front of them. Heero climbs up and reaches a hand down to Duo. Once Duo was seated behind Heero, Heero frowns.

"Pisces is south of here right?"

"I think so…" Duo shrugs.

"Follow the river south, Wing," the rider tells the dragon. "Pisces is the Water Mage capitol. I'd be surprised if it wasn't near water. And it's a big city. It should be hard to miss."

The dragon takes off and glides south, following the curve of the river.

"How long should it take to get there?" Duo ask the rider.

"Not long. Two, maybe three hours. It's should be just down the river."

"Plenty of time."

"Plenty of time for what?" Heero asks, turning to raise an eyebrow at the mage.

"Practice."

That's all the answer Heero gets before Duo stands and launches himself off the dragon.

"Duo!" Heero cries.

The mage flaps his wings, struggling to get air under his wings. Heero watches, his heart racing, on the ready to have Wing catch the mage if he needed to be caught. The mage continues to struggle, unable to get his wings to function properly. Heero is just about to send Wing in when Duo thrusts his palms downwards. The thrust from the jet of air he created sends Duo up and onto the back of Wing.

"Holy Goddess… You nearly gave me a heart attack," the rider glares at the mage.

"Sorry," the mage apologizes, but can't stop the smile. He loves that Heero cares about him so much.

"What the hell was that?"

"I told you. I need to relearn how to fly. And it's not like I'll fall to my death or anything. I'm able to slow my fall, or get myself back up in the air with my wind magic."

"I know. But that still scared me," the rider pouts, turning back around.

"Well I'll be doing that until I get the hang of flying again," the mage warns.

"Fine. Just call out if you want Wing to catch you."

"Alright."

And with that, Duo jumps off the dragon again. Duo spends just about an hour and a half doing this. Every time he is unable to get his wings to work, and had to thrust himself back up onto the dragon. Heero can see that Duo is getting tired and weaker. He is breathing hard and is spending less time in the air.

"Maybe you should take a break?" the rider suggests, really starting to worry about the mage. What if the next time he wouldn't have enough energy to get himself back up onto Wing?

"One more try. I almost got it," the mage says, then throws himself off again.

Heero keeps a close eye on Duo, ready to dive in at any moment and catch the falling mage. But this time, not even Duo has to catch himself. His fumbling wings finally give way to a graceful flap, keeping him stable and flying. The rider hears Duo laugh and cheer from down below. The mage does a few flips, flying all around the dragon and it's rider.

"Ha! I did it! Look Heero I got it!" the mage calls.

The rider smiles and starts to applaud. Without breaking his wing's rhythm, he does a funky looking bow. But then he flaps over to Wing and lands not so gracefully on the dragons back, completely out of breath. He remains sprawled out behind Heero across the dragon's spine, trying to catch his breath.

"That was awesome. I just had to remember how to work these things, then it all came back to me. That was great. Now I just have to work on my magic," Duo muses out loud.

"How about you take a break first. You're exhausted. I can tell," the rider protests.

"Not right now," the mage snorts. "We still have like, twenty other cities to go visit."

"Maybe not twenty," Heero chuckles.

"I know… I was exaggerating. But that would be nice wouldn't it? Anyways, my point was we have a lot of time that will be just spent sitting aboard this flying machine—" Wing turns his head and squawks at the mage "— doing nothing, so we might as well get some practicing in," the mage shrugs. "And I was just kidding, Wing. You're a good boy."

The dragon purrs underneath the two boys and Heero laughs.

"Well you just rest back there. We'll be at Pisces in about half an hour. Hopefully…"

"Will do," the mage replies eagerly.

Good to the rider's word, the great Water Mage capitol of Pisces came within sight after another about half an hour of flying. They leave the line of the river and dive down towards Pisces's front gate. Unlike with Cancer, no guards came out to meet them. When the white dragon lands, Heero turns and shakes the sleeping mage's shoulder.

"Duo, wake up. We're here."

The mage jumps up and nearly falls off the dragon. Heero laughs and the two slide off Wing's side. Just as they land, two guards ride up to them on horses, their hands out, palms facing us. They must be water mages.

"We're on your side!" Heero calls to them, holding his hands above his head.

Duo steps out from behind Heero so that the guards can see him and know he's not up to any trouble. He also raises his hands above his head, his palms clamped together.

The guards' eyes widen when they see Duo and one turns his horse back towards the gate, running back into the city. Duo raises an eyebrow and glances at Heero who has a smirk on his face.

"They know who you are," the rider smiles.

"W-What do you want?" the remaining guard asks of the two boys.

"We're here to talk to the Water Lord about the war," Heero replies.

The guard raises his hands higher, his arms shaking. Heero frowns and thinks of another approach.

"We just arrived from Cancer. We're recruiting an army to fight Treize," the rider clarifies.

The guard lowers his arms a little, but still looks a little wary. "A-Are you the Fire God?" he asks Duo.

"Yes, sir. But please just call me Duo," Duo requests.

"And what's your name?" the guard asks of the rider.

"Heero Yuy."

"Well… uhm… you two need to wait here until… until the Water Lord tells us you can come in…" the guard stutters.

"Alright," Duo shrugs, then plops down onto the ground.

Heero leans back against Wing's leg and crosses his arms over his chest. He watches in fascination as Duo starts to draw doodles in the dirt using only his magic. The rider smiles when Duo's tongue pokes out of the side of his mouth in concentration. The dirt continues to move seemingly on its own, creating at first a dragon, then a rider. A surprising about of detail is put into the doodle considering that it's drawn in the dirt. Once the doodle is done, Duo sits up straight to look at it. He frowns and suddenly the dirt is wiped flat, the drawing erased.

"Why did you do that? That was really good," Heero asks, sitting down in front of Duo.

"Really? I've done better… I guess I'm just out of practice," the mage smirks.

"It looked good to me," the rider snorted.

Duo smiles and starts to draw again. This time it's of Wing's head. The detail is amazing and completely blows Heero away. But about halfway through the drawing, seven or eight horses run through the gate and up to the two boys. The two boys stand up quickly, Duo swiping his hand through the air to erase the dirt drawing. One of the riders, which Duo feels he can safely assume is the Water Lord, dismounts and walks up to the two boys. He's dressed in flowing blue robes and cape, and a sparkling gold crown with a wavelike pattern sits on his head. He walks with the air of royalty and seems a lot more proud than the Thunder Lord did.

"Well you obviously look like the Fire God, but prove it. If you can prove it, I'll send ten thousand of my finest men to Cancer before the end of the hour," the Water Lord bargains.

Duo frowns, then looks around. There's not much to levitate… except for… He smirks and then, the horses, their riders, and even Wing are lifted up in the air. The only feet left on the ground belong to Duo, Heero, and the Water Lord.

"Very well," the Water Lord dismisses, not even fazed by the floating creatures all around him. "Ten thousand men it is then. You two may be on your way."

Duo huffs, dropping the horses and dragon gently on the ground before flapping his wings to get up on Wing's back. Heero climbs up behind him as the Water Lord remounts, then gallops off with his guards in tow. Wing takes off.

"Well isn't he a little—"

"Duo," Heero quickly cuts him off. "He's a king. Of course he's going to act a little snobby. The Thunder Lord is just a good guy. Don't expect behavior like that from everyone."

"Yeah, this is true… But the old Lord was a lot nicer…" he mutters.

"You've been here before?"

"Yeah. I came here once to train with the best water mages. The Water Lord at that time was really nice. Like the Thunder Lord. So where are we going next?"

"Peacemillion. We'll be there in two hours tops."

"Awesome. We'll I'm going to practice my magic," Duo declares.

"What are you going to practice?" Heero questions.

"I dunno. Stuff," is all the answer the rider gets.

Heero rolls his eyes and turns his attention back to Wing. After a few minutes, clouds start to pull in from seemingly nowhere. Lightning strikes and thunder sounds. Then, it starts to rain.

Heero is just about to start complaining when Duo cheers, "Yes! Check it out, Heero. Neat, eh?"

"You did this?"

"Uh huh!"

"Well can you please undo it?"

"Yeah yeah, sure. No respect these days, I swear. I just changed the freakin weather and he gets all grumpy cause he's getting wet," grouses Duo, but Heero can hear the smile in his voice.

The clouds disappear and Heero turns to look at Duo. "That was amazing, though," Heero praises.

Duo's cheeks glow red and he looks down. "It was nothing. I was just kidding. I used to do that all the time."

"I know, but it was still pretty cool," Heero smiles, then turns back around.

Duo lifts his head, a smile of his own tugging at the corner of his lips. He stares at the back of the handsome rider for a moment. He suddenly has the strongest urge to just hug him then, but he fights it, turning around and crossing his legs as best he could. He tries to meditate, but can't focus, knowing that the rider is sitting right behind him, their backs nearly touching.

Duo heaves a sigh and forces himself to concentrate on his meditating. But he can't deny that his feelings for the rider are definitely more than just friendship.


	12. Chapter 11

**This will probably be the last chapter for today... So yeah... Enjoy :)**

* * *

Chapter 11

"There it is."

Duo opens his eyes and looks to where Heero is pointing. The city is huge, but not nearly as big as Cancer or Pisces were. The rider tells his steed to dive down and land in front of the city. Wing obeys and the two dismount, but no one comes to meet them. There are no walls, either. The city just starts. Heero raises an eyebrow and looks at Duo.

"They've never been very tight on security… If I didn't know better, I'd say they were pacifist or something."

"No, that's Sanq," Heero supplies.

"What? Sanq is pacifist now?"

"Yup. This little pink parasite is the Queen now. And her brother is the King."

"That's a little odd… It's not very often brother and sister rule together…" Duo frowns.

"Yeah, tell me about it. But that whole family is a little out of whack. Or so I've heard from Trowa. He hates going there."

"Huh."

"And you say that Peacemillion has always been light on security? Have you been here before too?" Heero asks.

"Yeah. Just for a week once to take a break from my training. I just walked right into the palace and no one said a thing to me."

"Huh. Well shall we try it?"

"I'd suspect security is tighter now that the war is going on…"

Heero holds his hands out to the expansive city in front of him, shrugging his shoulders. Duo sighs, shrugging as well, then hops up onto the dragon. Wing takes off and flies over the houses and buildings all the way up to the palace. The dragon lands right in front of the front door and the two boys dismount and look around.

"This is just ridiculous," Duo exhales, then smirks and raises his hands above his head. "Should I wake them up a little? Drop a bomb or two?"

Heero quickly reaches over and lowers Duo's hands with a disapproving look shot at the mage. Just then, a single guard armed with a simple lance saunters out of the castle and up to the two boys.

"How can I help you two?"

"Uh…" Heero stutters, giving Duo a look.

"Does your king have an army?" Duo asks him.

"Sure does," is the response.

"A big one?"

"Yup."

"How big?"

"Thirty thousand. Ish."

Duo looks over at Heero, an amused look on his face.

"Uhm… Can we borrow a few?" Duo smirks.

"How many do ya need?" the guard asks, scratching his head.

"About… three thousand?" Heero shrugs.

"That's not a few…" the guard points out.

"He meant a few thousand."

"Hold on, lemme go ask the king."

He saunters back into castle, dragging the point of the lance behind him. The second he's gone, Duo bursts out laughing. He doubles over, nearly falling over onto his butt. Heero can't help but laugh too. That was really funny. The guard emerges a moment later and Duo quickly straightens, sobering up to the best of his abilities.

"He said sure. Where do ya want em?"

"Cancer," Duo supplies, pointing out in the general direction of the Thunder Capitol.

"Okey dokey."

"Thanks. Bye," Heero tells the guard, then climbs up onto the dragon.

Duo quickly follows, still giggling. "Well I am seriously starting to doubt that guy's sanity. I hope they're not all like that, or we'll have three thousand useless troops."

"That was a little weird…" Heero admits.

"No kidding. So where to next, pilot?" Duo teases.

"Sanq."

"Sanq? But that place is hecka far away from here…"

"It's the most logical. Yeah, we'll have to cross the whole map, but Peacemillion and Sanq are the two southern most cities. Well, big cities. L4 is further south than Sanq and Peacemillion. But anyway… After Sanq, we'll just work our way up the map."

"I see… Works for me."

The rider assumes that the flight to Sanq will take just as long as the flight from Libra to Cancer. But their flight from Libra to Cancer was started in the early morning. It's about the middle of the day now, which means that they'll have to stop overnight somewhere. About halfway in between Peacemillion and Sanq, if Heero remembered correctly, there was a mountain range and a forest. It was actually the exact mountain range that ran south and ended right in front of the L4 light colony. The rider wanted to cross over that mountain range before they stopped for the night.

Just as night started to fall, Wing passed over the mountain range and landed in a small clearing in the trees.

"This place looks familiar," the mage muses out loud. "Is the mountain I was in just down there?"

"Yeah. A few peaks down. And just beyond that is L4."

"Interesting…"

The two go about setting up camp and starting a fire. Once everything is set up, Duo stretches and yawns.

"I'm going to bed. We're probably getting up early, right?" Duo questions.

"Yeah. The earlier the better."

"Alright. Night."

"Night."

Duo lies down on one blanket and pulls the other up around him. Heero stays up a little while longer, his mind going over everything from that day. It had definitely been a very eventful day. He also decided that now, since he had the time, he could go back and think over something he had put away for later. His feelings for Duo. Watching Duo launch himself off of Wing in mid flight scared the shit out of the rider, although that little voice in the back of his mind had told him that Duo wouldn't get hurt. He had realized then that he would do anything to keep the mage from getting hurt. What did that mean about his feelings towards the mage? Did he just care greatly for the boy? Or did he… love him? That thought sent the rider's mind reeling. He had never thought about loving anyone, or courting anyone. Especially not another guy. But, he couldn't deny that his feelings for the mage went that deep. The rider shakes his head. Even though he came to that realization, he couldn't let the mage know. One, the mage probably had an interest in women, not men. And two, both of their heads needed to be solely focused on this war, not on a possible relationship.

Heero is snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of Duo's soft snores. The rider puts out the fire and joins the mage on the blanket. He studies the mage for a moment, then closes his eyes with a smile on his lips. Sleep soon takes him.

…

The remainder of the flight to Sanq is made in about half a day. When the two mages get there, Duo is immediately recognized and taken to the King and Queen. Duo realizes that he should've trusted Heero's word more than he had about the two rulers. Relena Peacecraft was indeed a pink parasite and seemed to practically cling to Heero from the moment she laid eyes on him. That made Duo surprisingly jealous and he developed the urge to strangle the parasite very quickly. Zechs seemed like a reasonable man though. He listened to Duo and Heero explain their position and agreed that, although they didn't really have an army because of their pacifist status, that they would supply the Alliance, as Treize's opposing force has come to be called, with funding and resources.

Once their meeting was over, Relena offered the two boys rooms to stay in for a few days while their dragon rested. When they boys declined, she got whiny and practically started begging. It was with great reluctance, that she finally let go of Heero's arm and let him depart with Duo.

"I hate that pink bitch…" complains Duo as the two soar over Sanq and in the direction of their next destination.

"She was really annoying," Heero agrees.

"I hope we never have to go back there again. We aren't borrowing any troops from them, so at least we won't have to keep in contact with them."

"Zechs seemed alright. He seemed reasonable…"

"Yeah, for the most part. The pink parasite is a nutcase though…"

"I can definitely agree with that. She was a little clingy too…"

"Yeah, I know," Duo practically snaps.

Heero is surprised by Duo's sudden… harshness? He had been a little teasing a moment ago, but that definitely wasn't teasing. That was a genuine annoyance. But why? Was it that Duo felt… possessive over him? No, the rider quickly disagrees. He just wanted the fire mage to be jealous of him. Because, to be jealous, he had to have feelings for Heero.

"How long until we get to wherever we're going?" Duo asks.

"We're going to Aquarius next. And to answer your question, about five or six hours. So we'll get there just before dark. And actually, we're crossing the river a few miles before we get to Aquarius so I'd like to stop and let Wing have a drink."

"Well, I'll be practicing."

The next few hours are spent in companionable silence. Duo practices his magic and Heero keeps an eye on the mage. They are about a half an hour out from the river when Duo stops with his practicing.

"Uhm, Heero?"

"Yes, Duo?"

"Are we… Are we going to Taurus?" the mage asks the rider quietly.

"I'm planning on it. Why?"

"Do you think we could possibly spend a little while in Taurus?"

"I was planning on it if the Light Lord would allow us to stay there overnight. The next stop after Taurus would be Romefeller and it'll take an entire day to get there, so I was planning on leaving in the morning instead of spending the night out in the woods. Especially since Epyon is so close," Heero explains. He's about to ask why Duo wants to stay in Taurus, but then has a guess. "You want to see if there are any Aries survivors there, don't you?"

Heero turns back in time to see the fire mage nod his head. The rider spins around in his seat to face the mage. He puts a hand on either of the mage's shoulders and waits until Duo looks up at him.

"I promise you, Duo, that there are survivors. Have I ever lied to you?"

"No. And I know I should trust you… It's just that I've seen what Treize is capable of and I just want to see for myself."

"I know," the rider sighs. "Just try to calm down, and don't worry about it too much. We'll be to Aquarius soon, then we'll be at Taurus by noon the next day, hopefully."

The rider nods and suddenly pulls Heero into a hug. "Thanks," he whispers in the rider's ear.

"No problem. That's what friends are for, right?"

It's only about an hour after their rest stop to let Wing get some water that the boys spot the glowing city of Aquarius. In the near pitch darkness, the glow of the city's lights can be seen for miles out. Heero had always heard lovely stories about Aquarius from Trowa. Unlike Sanq, Trowa loved Aquarius. He said he'd live there forever if he could. Hopefully the king was as nice as his city was. It really ruined a city when their rulers were snobby. But Heero hadn't heard anything like that from Trowa.

"That's beautiful," Duo murmurs, sliding up closer to Heero so he could get a better view over Heero's shoulder.

"Very," Heero breathes, taking a glance over at Duo.

Duo doesn't seem to notice. His eyes are fixed on the glowing city in front of them. Heero forces himself to tear his eyes from the fire mage and examine the city. He looks out for guards and sees a few at the front gates waving torches to get their attention. Heero instructs the dragon to land in front of them.

The outer wall was a glassy blue that reflected the lights of the city beautifully. Watery designs were carved into the delicate looking material. The rider highly doubted that the wall was delicate though. A small manmade river broke off from the main river and flowed underneath the huge front gates. Heero wondered about that, but he was sure he'd find out in a minute.

"You two were flying in restricted air space, do you realize that?" one of the guards asks, walking up to them as they dismounted.

"Sorry sir. We need to talk to the King," Heero tells them.

"What is your business?" he asks.

"The Alliance is gathering an army, sir, to fight against Treize. It's time we stop cowering and do something about the terror he is causing. We've just come from Sanq, Peacemillion, Pisces, and Cancer gathering troops. Libra is also sending down troops," Heero explains.

"Really? We're fighting back against Epyon? Finally! I'm sure the King will agree to support the Alliance. Follow me, please."

The two boys follow the guards to the front gates and they slowly swing open to reveal a beauty like no other.


	13. Chapter 12

**Sorry it took so long to post the next chapter... I completely forgot :/**

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Chapter 12

The entire city was made from what looked like ice. Heero couldn't even imagine how they did it, considering the warm climate they lived in. And then entire city looked like it was on water. The river that had disappeared under the door seemed to fill the entire city with water. A boat was waiting for them near the front gate and the three climbed in, the other guards taking back up their posts. The guard remaining with the two boys used his water magic to propel the boat forward. Wing sloshed behind them, the water coming up to his chest, approximately six feet deep, Heero guessed.

The boat moved quickly, but not hurriedly through the water and the two boys gazed around at the marvelous city. It was late, so no one was out, but Heero could imagine the city during the day, bustling with activity. Ice sidewalks ran around the blocks and bridges arched high above the main rivers. Heero suddenly realized that the city wasn't glowing because of the lights or anything like that. It was the moon reflecting off the icy buildings. The rider was in awe, his respect for the beautiful city growing.

The fire mage was also completely mesmerized by the beauty of the city. But, being a fire mage in city of ice, he felt so… out of place. He felt that all he'd have to do was touch something to melt the whole city down. He clasped his hands in his lap tight, not wanting to risk anything, even though he knew it was a ridiculous fear.

After a bout fifteen minutes of maneuvering the boat down the empty waterways, the guard pulls the boat up to the 'curb' in front of the palace. It was designed the same way as the rest of the city. Completely made from ice. It was on a circle of ice, a grand staircase leading up to the front doors.

"This place it ten times nicer than the Water Mage Capitol. Why isn't this the capitol?" Duo asks the guard as the three climb out of the small wooden boat.

"The population of Pisces is much greater than here. When it came down to a vote, naturally people voted for their homeland, so Pisces won by a landslide," the guard explains.

"What is the population here? Pisces is over a million, right?" Heero asks.

"Pisces's population is a little over one million, thirty-seven thousand. Aquarius has a population of about three hundred and ninety thousand."

"Wow. Big difference," Duo observes.

"Very big. See why we lost?" the guard grins.

He leads the two boys into the palace and stops a guard walking through the main hallway.

"Do you know where King Septem is?" the guard asks the other.

"He's in the thrown room with General Quinze."

"Thank you."

The guard leads them through the main hallway and through a large set of doors at the end. In the room, a large thrown stands, and on that thrown sits a man wearing a simple water mage tunic. The man standing next to him is dressed similarly and has a map in his hands, discussing something. Both men look up when the guard opens the door.

"These two boys are here to recruit troops for the Alliance's strike on Epyon, sir."

Both men's eyes widen and King Septem stands.

"Really? A strike on Epyon? Tell me how many you want and where to send them, boys, and you'll have them within the week," the king promises.

"Well, how ever many you can spare without feeling you've left yourself vulnerable, sir. That would be greatly appreciated. Thank you," Heero bows.

"Six thousand of my best soldiers then? Where do you want them?"

"Cancer, sir. Thank you so much."

"No problem, boy. I'm tired of that asshole up there thinking he can take over the world everyone deserves to live peacefully in. I'm glad we're finally doing something about it."

After a few introductions, a guard leads them up to their room. He hesitates in front of the door though.

"Uhm… I'm terribly sorry, but we only have one room free right now…" the guard apologizes.

"That'll be fine," Duo says quickly.

The guard nods his head, then leaves. Heero opens the door for the mage and the two walk into the very nice room. It's got a single bed in it, but it's a queen size. There is a couch in front of a fireplace, though, so Heero would offer to sleep on the couch if Duo preferred that.

"Uhm, I could sleep on the couch, if you want me to," Heero offers.

"Nah, I don't mind," Duo shrugs, turning his back to Heero and pulling off the top of his tunic.

The rider forces himself not to stare at the mage and pulls off his own tunic. Duo curls up in bed and faces the wall. Heero climbs in under the sheets and faces the mage, staring at the back of his neck, the tattoos swirling faster than normal.

Heero turns around and closes his eyes, trying to fall asleep. It doesn't take too long, the long day of traveling catching up to him.

…

Heero wakes first and carefully climbs out of bed, careful not to disturb the mage. He stretches, pulling on his tunic and heading over to the window. It's early, but the city is already a bustle of activity. Boats are flowing steadily down the many rivers and many people are walking down the icy sidewalks.

The rider hears a groan from behind him and he turns to see Duo roll clumsily onto his back because of his wings, then rub his eyes. He lays there for a moment, then gets up quickly and pulls on his tunic.

"Let's go, Heero," he calls the to rider. "Not that I want to leave this place… I love this city… It's just…"

"I get it, Duo," the rider smiles. "I know you're eager to get to Taurus."

The two tidy up their room, then find the King to thank him quickly before heading outside. Heero whistles to Wing and the two wait for the dragon to show up. When he does, they climb up onto the beast's back and circle the city before taking off to Taurus.

The flight was quick, neither the boys nor the dragon needing to stop. After almost five and a half hours, the great Light Capitol of Taurus comes into view. Duo stands up behind the rider, keeping a hand on Heero's shoulder for stability.

"I doubt you're going to see anything from this distance, Duo," Heero tells the mage, patting the hand that was on his shoulder.

"You're right…" he murmurs, then moves to take off.

Heero grabs Duo's wrist. "Duo. You can't out fly a dragon. Just… calm down. We'll bee there in a few minutes. No body is going anywhere."

He sighs and sits down, resting his chin on the rider's shoulder and wraps his arms around the rider. Heero's heart flutters in his chest and he forces himself to calm down.

The dragon dives, soaring down towards the front wall of Taurus. The guards standing up on the wall motion for them to land there on the wall with them. The rider instructs the dragon to do as told and the guards jog up to the boys. They ask Heero the usual questions, but Duo isn't really paying attention.

"Are there any Aries people here?" he asks.

The guards look at each other, then look back up at the two boys. Heero gets a very bad feeling.

"No. I'm sorry. They were all killed when Treize attacked Aries about fifteen years ago."

"W-What?" Duo stutters, his grip on Heero's shoulders tightening.

"I'm sorry, sir. There was only a handful of survivors, but Treize's attack on Aries was a poison gas attack. He was testing out his new weapons. Those who survived the initial poison died a few years later from other side effects."

The rider turns to see the mage's stricken face. He rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Duo," he murmurs.

"It's all my fault. I should've been there to protect them," he murmurs under his breath, tears beginning to roll down his cheeks.

"No, Duo. Don't do that to yourself. There was nothing you could've done for them. If you had been there, you probably would've died too," Heero is quick to reassure the mage.

He shakes his head, a sob choking out of him. Suddenly he turns and flaps his wings, taking off. Heero wants to leave him alone to give him some space, but he can't take his eyes off of the mage, or let him fall into enemy hands if he flies to far, so he tells Wing to follow him and give him some non-human company.

The white dragon takes off and the rider follows the guards into the city and towards the palace.

Duo knows he's being followed. As much as he loves the rider's company, he really just wants to be alone right now. He looks over his shoulder to see just the white dragon following him, no rider. He turns back around continues to fly. He was grateful that the rider had given him space, but also knew that he'd like the rider's company when he calmed down a little.

He couldn't believe that all his people were gone. They couldn't all be dead. There were nearly a million people in Aries. How could Treize kill that many people so easily? And so inhumanely as poisoning them? Duo felt the tears flowing freely down his cheeks and sobs shake his whole body. He drops like a stone down to earth, wanting to just sit somewhere and think. He catches himself with his wind magic, then collapses on the ground.

He pulls his knees up to his chest and lets himself cry. When the white dragon lands next to him, he hugs the beast's snout, needing the contact.

After nearly an hour out there with just the dragon, Duo runs out of tears. He sniffles, wiping his eyes on his sleeve, then looks up at the dragon. He smiles slightly as he pets the soft muzzle.

"Thanks for watching over me, Wing. And tell your master thanks for me."

The dragon raises an eyebrow at the young mage, confused about the meaning of his words.

"I can't drag Heero into this. It'd be a lot safer for everyone if I just went and fought Treize myself. Heero could get hurt if he fights this war with me, and I'd never forgive myself if something happened to him."

The dragon frowns and stands, stepping in front of the mage. He couldn't let the mage leave. His master told him to bring him back. He couldn't let his rider down. And he had come to really like the fire mage. He didn't want him to get hurt. And he knew his master had feelings for the mage. Another reason to bring the fire mage back to his master.

"I have to go, Wing," the mage insists.

The dragon bares his teeth at the mage.

"I don't want to hurt you, Wing, but I will if you try to stop me," Duo threatens the dragon, confused as to why the dragon suddenly changed attitudes.

Wing snarls at the mage. The mage raises his hands and Wing pounces, knowing he couldn't let the mage use his magic, or else he'll get away. A sharp smack to the back of the mage's head with his tail knocks him unconscious immediately. The dragon lifts the boy into his hands and takes off back to Taurus where his master was waiting. He knew that his master would be really mad at him for hurting the mage, but he had too. He'd show his master that the mage was going to leave.

The dragon holds the mage carefully in his front paws and tries to fly smoothly so not to jostle the boy too much. When he reaches Taurus, he sees that his master is no longer on the wall, so he turns and flies towards the big palace. He shifts the mage to one arm before landing in front of the massive doors. He calls out to his master, then waits. It's not long before the familiar chocolate haired rider appears from the doors. His eyes widen when he sees the dragon and the unconscious mage.

"What did you do?" the rider yells at his steed, running forward and taking the mage into his arms.

The dragon snorts, then uses their bond to connect Heero's mind to his. He plays back everything, showing his master that the boy was going to leave. When the link is broken, Heero sighs and looks down at the unconscious mage in his arms.

"Thanks, Wing. You didn't hit him too hard, did you?" he asks quietly.

The dragon shakes his head. Heero lets out a stressed breath, then carries the mage into the castle and up the stairs to the room the Light Lord had given them. He lays the mage carefully in the bed and sits down next to him. He should come around soon. The one time Wing knocked the rider out before he did something stupid, he was only out for almost a half an hour.

"Don't be so stupid, Duo," the rider exhales. "You can't do this by yourself. And even if you could, I'd still want to be there to help you."


	14. Chapter 13

**Here's another chapter! And the next one will be up in a few minutes! Yaaay XD Enjoy :)**

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Chapter 13

The mage suddenly groans and rubs the back of his head. He tries to sit up, but Heero puts a hand on his shoulder, keeping him down.

"Your dragon…" the mage mumbles, "is a jerk."

"He only did what he had to in order to protect you," the rider tells him.

"I don't need protecting. You don't seem to understand that," he retorts, shrugging off the rider's hand and standing up. "I'm more powerful than you can ever imagine, Heero. You've seen only a fraction of my true potential! You're not nearly as powerful as I am. I can't let you fight for me. If you don't think I can protect myself, then there is no way you can protect yourself. I can't let you get hurt, Heero! I can't!"

"I know that you can probably protect yourself, Duo," Heero tells the rider quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. "But we started this together, so we're in this together to the end. And just like you can't let me get hurt, I can't let you get hurt. I know you'll probably never get hurt because, you're right, you can take care of yourself… but I'd still like to be there to be sure."

"But—"

"And I can take care of myself too, Duo. You forget that I have a dragon on my side that'll do absolutely anything to make sure I'm safe."

The mage sighs and gives in. "Fine. But don't… don't do anything stupid please."

The rider nods. "Maybe we should leave? I'm sure it's a little uncomfortable for you to be here…"

With the mention of that, Duo feels his emotions start to churn inside him. His eyes sting with unshed tears and he turns his back to the rider, trying to hide his weakness. But when a strong hand rests lightly on his shoulder in reassurance, he can't hold the tears back. The hand turns him around and Heero pulls him into a tight embrace. That was just the kind of contact that Duo needed right now. He needed the reassurance of the man he was secretly crushing on, needed him to just hold him. Being by himself earlier had been nice, but this was better and was helping him more.

"If you don't mind? I know you didn't want to stop between here and Romefeller but…" the mage trails off, wiping his tears away with the back of his sleeve.

"It's alright. We don't have to stop. Wing can go a few days at a time without sleep, and it won't be hard for us to get some sleep."

"Okay," Duo agrees, pulling back from the rider completely against his will. "So I guess we didn't need this room."

"I guess not," Heero smiles. "Let's go."

After finding the Light Lord and thanking him for the support he's given, the two boys leave the palace and the rider whistle for his dragon. The dragon lands in front of them and the boys climb on.

They fly straight through to Romefeller, not reaching the mountain range until about three in the morning. Duo was fast asleep against Heero's back. In another half an hour, they'd be in Romefeller. Heero was actually not even sure why they were going to Romefeller. Romefeller was a dangerous place and he wasn't sure if they'd even get help. The king was infamous for being a power grabber. Heero was going to have to keep an eye on Duo and make sure the king didn't try anything.

He looks back over his shoulder. Duo's head is right there, face relaxed and lips parted slightly in sleep. He looks so peaceful in his sleep, like all the many problems in his life have just disappeared.

He shifts slightly in his sleep, his arms tightening around Heero's waist and scooting up closer to the rider. Heero's heart races and he forces himself to look away and concentrate on flying the dragon.

They are about five minutes away and Heero wakes the mage. He would've preferred to let him sleep, but he needed to warn the mage about the Romefeller king.

Duo moans and shifts behind Heero. "Are we there?" he slurs, rubbing his eyes.

"Not quite, but I need to tell you something before we get there," the rider tells him.

"Oh… what?"

"The king of Romefeller… He's a greedy bastard. I want you to stay with me all the time and if he tries to talk to you alone… just stay with me. Don't listen to anything he says. He'll try to convince you to stay with him, to work for him. He'll try anything it takes to trick you into staying with him."

"I don't want to go with him. I want to stay with you," he tells me. "And I've told you already… I hate when people try to use me. I'm never letting anyone use me ever again."

"Just remember that when this guy is telling you how much better it'll be for you to join him."

Duo nods and rests his chin back on the rider's shoulder. "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes. Just watch yourself and stick with me. Do you feel comfortable staying here tonight? Well… for what's left of it? Cause we don't have to stay."

"I don't mind. And could we share a room? I'm not sure I want to stay by myself after hearing what you told me," the mage asks. It was just an excuse. He wasn't at all worried about the king. He just liked being close to Heero and enjoyed waking up with the rider right next to him.

"Sure. It'll put me at ease too," Heero nods.

By now the three of them have reached Romefeller and the guards wave them through, motioning for the two boys to head straight to the palace.

"Why aren't they stopping us?" Duo asks.

"Well Epyon is home to only black dragons, and they might've gotten word that we were traveling around recruiting troops. Those are my only two guesses. And if the latter is true, then Epyon may also know of our recruiting. So we need to be on our guard."

The dragon lands in front of the palace and two guards lead them into a throne room where the king sits. Duo has no doubt that he's the king. He's dressed in fine robes of expensive material and he wears a huge, jeweled crown on his head. He holds his chin up in a complete sign of arrogance and pride. When he sees us, he flashes a wide smile.

"Well you boys sure are up late," the king grins.

"As are you, sir," the rider points out.

"I haven't slept much since learning of your journey around the world, seeking help." He stands and starts walking over to the two boys. Heero shifts his weigh so he's standing straighter and slightly in front of Duo. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

"This is our last stop, sir," Heero informs him.

The king completely ignores the rider and stands tall before the small fire mage.

"You must be the infamous Fire God, back from the dead. I've always dreamed of this moment, having you here in my castle."

Heero steps forward and more in front of Duo, an obvious warning for the king to back off without openly threatening him. The king seems to take his hint and takes a step back.

"I'm sure that _you_ don't need a bodyguard, Fire God. What is he doing here?"

"He's my friend," Duo answers.

"Very well… What is it you boys would like from me?" the king asks with a fake smile.

Heero takes over then. "We'd like some troops if you could spare them."

"Five thousand troops then. Where would you like me to send them?"

"Cancer, sir."

"Very well. You have your troops. Is that all you need?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," Duo tells him.

"No problem, my dear boy. Now I'm sure you both are exhausted. I'll have a guard show you to a room."

The boys bow, then follow a guard to a spare room. The boys enter, then immediately head to bed, both tired from the long flight and considering that it was almost four in the morning. Duo falls asleep quickly and Heero struggles to keep his eyes open. He's afraid to take his eyes off the mage. He saw how the king looked him over with greedy eyes. He couldn't let the king coerce the mage into joining him. But in the end, sleep deprivation won out and he was asleep before he knew it.

…

Duo feels a hand on his shoulder, trying to shake him awake.

"What do you want, Heero?" he mumbles, rolling over.

The hand shakes him again and he opens his eyes in annoyance. But Heero is still fast asleep next to him. He frowns and looks over his shoulder. The king is standing there, a hand on his shoulder.

"What do you—"

"Shhh," the king hisses. "Don't wake him. I just want to talk to you privately, and I don't think he'd let me do that."

Duo frowns and stands up, following the king into the hallway. He knows Heero doesn't want him talking to the king alone, but he knows what he wants and he can easily protect himself against this man.

"What do you want, sir?" the mage asks, adding the end on just as a formality. He doesn't want the king to take his five thousand troops back.

"I just want to talk to you, boy. Relax," he smiles.

The mage crosses his arms, waiting for the man to continue. He knows he's being highly disrespectful to the king, but he doesn't really care right now.

"I was just wondering… what are your plans for after this war?"

"I don't have any as of yet."

"Would a position as general interest you?"

"Not really," the mage replies bluntly.

"I have several thousand of the best troops in the world here in Romefeller. You'd be in command of all of them."

"And be under your command? No offense, sir, but that doesn't sound all that appealing."

"May I ask why not?" he asks, his tone going hard.

"I know you just want me for my abilities, and I'll tell you right now, I will never let anyone use me."

"Oh, and you don't think you're being used right now?" the king retorts.

That shocks the mage. He definitely wasn't expecting that. "W-What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry to point this out to you, boy, but you can't see that the Thunder Lord, and everyone else for that matter, is just using you? They just want peace again, and they know you can make that happen. That boy you're with. Heero is his name, right? He's using you as well. What's his story? What has he lost in this war that he wants desperately to get revenge for?"

His family. His whole village, Duo remembers. Heero's entire life was destroyed by the war. He has nothing except his dragon now. It never occurred to Duo that he'd want revenge… He shakes his head. No. Heero warned him that this man would use whatever tactic he could to get Duo to join him.

"N-No. Heero is my friend. He told me he wouldn't use me…"

"And you don't think he's capable of lying to you?"

Duo just stands there, then shakes his head a little. Heero wouldn't lie to him.

"Oh come on. You don't see what he's doing to you? He doesn't really care about you. He just cares about avenging whoever he lost in the war. Let me guess, he had a family that was killed in the war? Friends? He probably even had a lover or something that was killed."

A lover? That hit Duo somewhere deep. Jealousy surged within him. Heero never mentioned having a lover, but then again he never mentioned not having a lover either…

"Join me, Fire God. I won't ever use you. You will be free to do as you wish here."

"Don't listen to him, Duo. He's lying to you."

Duo whirls around to see Heero standing there, his sword gripped firmly in his hand.

"Ask him, Duo. Ask him if he's using you," the king demands.

Duo just stares at Heero and Heero stares back. He can't find his voice.

"No. I've never used you, Duo. Remember, I warned you about this. And what did you tell me?"

"I don't want to go with him. I want to stay with you," Duo repeats, his voice quiet.

"That's right. Why is that, Duo? Do you remember why that is? Why do you want to stay with me?"

Because I love you, Duo's mind responds automatically, but he doesn't say it. "Because I trust you," he answers instead.

"And why do you trust me?"

"Because… because you've never lied to me. And… and you're the only person that's ever cared about me…"

"So why are you even think about going with him, Duo?"

Duo has to think about that for a second. Why is he even thinking about it? Because the king is making some very valid points. But Duo doesn't care. He knows Heero better than the king does. Heero wouldn't do that to him. He'd talk to Heero about it later, but right now, he just wants to get out of there.

"I'm not…"

"But what about all we've talked about?" the king shouts. "How do you know he's not lying to you now?"

The mage whirls around and holds out his hands, but then there is a clatter and Heero grabs him.

"Don't hurt him or he could arrest you. Let's go."

Heero picks up his sword and the two take off out of the castle and to where Wing was waiting for them. Duo wraps his arms around Heero's waist and uses his wings to lift them up onto Wing's back. The dragon takes off immediately, sensing that something wasn't right.

Once they're out of sight of Romefeller, the two boys start to relax. Duo takes a deep breath and runs his fingers through his bangs.

"I'm sorry, Heero. I shouldn't have listened to him. You warned me that he'd try to trick me, but I didn't consider that seriously enough."

Heero doesn't respond for a few moments. "Did you really believe him? Even for a moment?" he eventually asks, his tone quiet.

Duo doesn't want to respond truthfully to that, but he has to. "I considered what he was saying. I never really believed him though."

Heero's heart sinks. He didn't hear really any of their conversation except the very end, but he knew that the king had been smearing his name, accusing him of horrible acts. It hurt him a lot to know that Duo hadn't completely trusted him. But he forces his disappointment away. He knows Duo's hard life has made trusting people hard for him. He's used to let downs and disappointments. He'd just have to work extra hard to show Duo that he's not being used, that he would never use him.

That has to start by giving him a choice.

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**Oh and in response to all the reviews asking for me to make Heero and Duo kiss, be patient! I wrote that it was yaoi in the summary and I meant it! I promise! XD Thanks for all the reviews though. They're greatly appreciated ^-^**


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Heero tells the dragon to take them down. Wing obeys, diving down and coming to a stop on the ground, surrounded by trees.

"What's going on?" Duo asks the rider.

The rider turns around to face the mage.

"I've realized that I never really gave you a choice… I just kind of pressured you into helping with this war. That was wrong of me, and I'm terribly sorry, Duo. I'm giving you that choice now. You don't have to do this if you don't want to. If you decide you don't, tell me where you want me to take you and I will take you there. This is your decision and it's a big decision, so you should be the only one to make it."

Duo frowns slightly. "Yeah, you can take me somewhere."

Heero feels like all the breath has been forced from his lungs. For his own selfish reasons, he was hoping Duo would stay with him. He couldn't care less about this war right now. He just didn't wan the man he had slowly but surely fallen in love with to leave him. But it was obvious that the mage didn't share his feelings.

"You can take me back to Cancer with you, Heero," the mage tells him firmly. "I don't want to leave you. The Goddess gave me these powers for a reason and I think that reason is to defeat Treize and restore peace to Her world. And you've always given me a choice, Heero. You haven't forced me to do anything. And I've been following you all over this world because I want to."

Heero looks up at the mage, a smile on his face. He couldn't even begin to describe how relieved he felt.

"Now, lets go get that army ready so we can go kick Khushrenada's ass."

…

The flight is a long one back. And considering if they flew straight they'd fly right over Epyon, the flight was made longer so they could go around. It'd take them a good two days to get back. After about fourteen hours of flying, Heero and Duo are struggling to stay awake. Even Wing is getting tired.

They find a place to land and make camp. The sun is just beginning to set when they finally lay down and close their eyes. They decide to sleep in, considering they had no where to be and even if they did get back to Cancer as soon as possible, it'd be a while until all of the troops were gathered and ready to be deployed.

So after sleeping nearly twelve hours, they get up, pack up, and mount up. They had only been flying for about an hour or two when Duo spots something.

"Heero! Take us down there," he exclaims, pointing down at a small village below them. "It's a Fire Mage colony and they have some of the best warriors in the world. We should ask them for assistance."

"Have you ever been there?"

"No, but my fire teacher was brought to Aries from L5 to train me."

"Good enough for me," Heero shrugs and tells the dragon to dive.

The dragon lands and the second he does, a handful of men run out, hands out, ready to attack.

"Wait wait! We're on your side!" Duo tells them.

"Prove it!" one shouts.

"We're on our way from Romefeller to Cancer. We just went around recruiting soldiers to join the Alliance Army and fight Khushrenada."

They slowly lower there hands and straighten. The leader steps forward. "Dismount the dragon and disarm yourselves."

They do as told and the leader steps forward to look over the two. He gets to Duo and hesitates.

"You dress like us, like a fire mage, and you have wings, and magic tattoos. Are you…?"

Duo nods. "I am."

The guards suddenly drop to one knee, bowing to Duo. "Excuse our behavior, sir. We didn't know, we swear."

"Please don't bow to me," Duo requests. "And don't call me sir. My name is Duo."

They all stand and the leader extends his hand.

"Chang WuFei," he introduces. "So you're really gathering an army?"

"Duo Maxwell, and this is Heero Yuy. And yes, we are. That's actually what we came here for. We're not sure of our numbers so far, but the more the better."

"All able mages here will gladly follow you into battle against Khushrenada, Duo, sir."

"Great!"

WuFei turns to one of the other mages and tells them to gather the troops.

"Well you two can continue your flight. We'll be in Cancer as quick as we can," WuFei tells the two boys with a bow.

Duo and Heero bow back, then climb up onto Wing. Wing takes off and Duo waves to WuFei and the other mages as they climb through the air. After another few hours of flying, they see the river, and just on the other side of it, Cancer. Around the entire outer wall is a sea of tents. People are out and about, practicing with swords, lances, axes, magic, etc. Dragons are flying around everywhere, and horses are tied up outside of tents. It must be the troops.

Heero tells the dragon to land down in front of one of the bigger tents, hoping that it's a general he can talk to. The two boys climb down from the dragon just as the Thunder Lord's top general exits the large tent.

"Heero! Duo! You two are done recruiting?" he asks the two, shaking their hands.

"Yes, Duke Dermail, sir," Heero replies, bowing his head.

"Where did you two go? Other than Libra, Pisces, Peacemillion, and Aquarius," he asks.

"Are those the troops that are here?" Duo asks.

"Yes. Aquarius just arrived an hour or two ago, but Libra, Pisces, and Peacemillion have been here for about a day and a half."

"Wow. Well expect troops from Taurus and Romefeller."

"And L5," Duo puts in.

"L5?"

"It's just a small fire colony, so don't expect a lot of troops from them, but they have some of the best fire mages in the world."

"Excellent."

"How many troops do we have so far?" Heero asks him.

The General pulls out a piece of paper. "Fifteen thousand from us, seven thousand from Libra, ten thousand from Pisces, three thousand from Peacemillion, and six thousand from Aquarius. So that puts us at forty-one thousand."

Heero whistles. "Well Taurus is sending four thousand and Romefeller five thousand. Maybe," Heero adds.

"Maybe?"

"We had a few problems with the Romefeller king. So who knows if he's going to send the troops," Duo shrugs.

"Well if he does that'll put us at exactly fifty thousand troops," the General informs the boys.

"How many do you think Epyon has?"

"I'm nut sure, but I know we're beating them in numbers, but skill? Not only do they have all kinds of magic, but Treize also has witches and wizards there. It won't be easy to defeat them."

…

Heero and Duo decide to turn down the Thunder Lord's offer to set them back up in the rooms they had used before. Both decide that they should stay out and camp with the other men. They set up their tent next to Trowa and Quatre's tent.

Early the next day, about sixty soldiers from L5 arrive, then later in the day, Taurus soldiers arrive. Looking around the camp, Heero can hardly tell who is from what nation. Everyone is practicing with each other and talking with each other, and if it wasn't for their uniforms, Heero wouldn't be able to tell who came from where. It warms his heart to think that everyone has gotten together like this to fight a single cause.

Heero and General Dermail spar each other for practice, and Duo practices his fire magic with WuFei. When Taurus arrives, Dermail takes his leave to go welcome the four thousand troops. Heero finds Duo and WuFei and watches the powerful mages duel it out. Trowa and Quatre find them after an hour or so and reunions are made. Quatre especially is very eager to find out how their travels went.

"Jeez, Quat. You're acting like Duo and I went on vacation, not recruiting," Heero laughs.

"Sorry," the light mage apologizes. "I'm just curious."

Heero tells him all about their journey, and when describes the lunacy of the Sanq king and queen and the Peacemillion guard, he laughs. When Heero describes the beauty of Aquarius, he makes Trowa promise to take him there some day. When he relays the events in Taurus, he feels heartbroken for the fire mage. And when he tells of their troubles in Romefeller, he gets mad.

Duo interrupts Heero's tales by running up to the group

"Take me up on Wing. I want to try something," he asks of the rider.

The rider whistles for Wing and the dragon lands before him. The two climb on and Wing takes them up above Cancer and hovers. Duo stands up and holds out his hands. His eyes close and he takes a deep breath.

"What are you trying to do?" Heero asks, watching the mage closely.

"You'll see," the mage murmurs.

They stand there like that for a few minutes, but nothing happens. Duo exhales in frustration and drops his hands.

"Maybe I need to start smaller… Stand up, please," he asks the rider.

The rider stands as told and the mage turns to face him. He closes his eyes again and holds out his hands. Heero waits, not knowing what to expect from the mage.

Suddenly, something flashes all around Heero and he sees a translucent, almost liquid bubble form around the two of them. He looks around them in awe.

"Did I do it?" the mage asks, his eyes still closed.

"You did something…" Heero breathes.

One amethyst eye peeks open and then Duo cheers. But the break in concentration causes the bubble to burst, disappearing.

"What was that?" Heero asks.

"A force field," Duo grins.

"Really?"

"Heck yes! You can test it if you want."

The mage steps back a step and creates the field again just around himself.

"I'm not swinging my sword at you, Duo," the rider says firmly.

"Oh come on, Heero. It'll hold, I promise. And you don't have to swing it right at me. Swing it so that if it does go through, it won't hit me."

"Fine," the rider gives in, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Heero draws his sword and grips it in two hands. He weighs the heavy object for a second, then swings it hard at the bubble at an angle so that if it does go through Duo's field, it won't hit the mage inside. The sword comes in contact with the liquid bubble and is thrown back, sparks flying everywhere. The force of it nearly rips the blade from the swordsman's hands.

"Yes! See? Told you," Duo cheers, the bubble disappearing.

"Wow… That's really cool," Heero admits, sheathing his weapon.

Duo turns to face the city and raises his hands. His eyes slide closed and he takes a deep breath. Heero also turns to face the city, but keeps his eyes on the mage next to him. They stand there like that for a few moments, but nothing happens. Duo starts to get frustrated, his tattoos slithering hurriedly across his skin, but he doesn't break his concentration. The bubble starts to form again, sparking and appearing in only a few spots. Duo concentrates harder to connect it all, but it fails and explodes in the air. Duo's eyes fly open and he seems forced back by the force. Heero reacts instinctively and catches the mage, pulling him back up onto the dragon.

"Damn…" Duo breathes, his eyes on the rider.

"I have a question for you," Heero informs the mage, releasing him quickly, a blush coloring his cheeks.

"Shoot," the mage replies.

"Are you invincible?"

"No," the mage answers quickly. "That force field takes time and concentration to create, so it wouldn't come in handy in a blitz attack, and my reflexes aren't as quick as some attacks. I'm really good at blocking swords, lances, and axes, but magics are much harder. And when it comes to arrows, I'm screwed. I can't avoid arrows. Found that out the hard way."

He lifts his shirt to reveal the scars that Heero had seen back when they were in Cancer the last time. He turns to reveal the same exact pattern, only mirrored, on his back. Heero gasps when he makes the connection.

"Those are all arrow piercings?" the rider asks, fighting the urge to reach out and touch them.

The mage nods, lowering his shirt and turning back around. "It was when I was going through training. Dekim had asked the same question you had, but at that time, I didn't know the answer. He ran countless tests, one of which, a firing squad. Three hundred arrows sent at me. All I was able to protect was my head. If there hadn't been healers on site, I would've bled out in minutes."

"Goddess," Heero breathes.

Duo just shrugs. "Well at least I know now."

Heero nods, keeping his opinions to himself. Duo turns back towards the city to try his force field again, but then hesitates, a frown coming to his face.

"What?" Heero asks the mage.

The mage points out to the horizon. "I'm praying those are Romefeller troops, but… I see purple flags. Is the color of Romefeller purple?"

Heero scans the horizon and sees what Duo is looking at. A large army of soldiers are making there way towards Cancer, and sure enough, purple flags fly proudly in their midst.

"No. Romefeller isn't purple," Heero exhales.

"So that means…"

"Yes. Epyon is here."


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Shit!" Duo curses. "We need to go tell Dermail to get the troops ready."

Heero sits down quickly, followed by Duo, and tells Wing to take off to the front of Cancer. Wing takes off quickly, sensing that something is wrong. Tension is thick in the air, like a coming storm, and it worries the dragon.

They get to where Dermail and the other generals' tent are and Heero calls to them before the dragon even lands. Dermail runs out of the tent, alert.

"Epyon troops are marching towards us from the northwest!" Heero shouts to him.

"Now?"

"Yes now!" Heero yells.

"Fly around and call for everyone to suit up and line up at the northwest border!" he commands, then hurries back into his tent.

Wing turns and shoots off. Heero and Duo call down from the dragon, yelling for all the soldiers to armor up and get ready for battle. Once they make it around to all the soldiers, Heero lands his dragon next to Trowa and Quatre's tent where they were waiting for them along with WuFei.

"Heero! We got something for Wing while you were gone. Help us get it on him!" Trowa calls to Heero.

Heero jumps off Wing and follows the two mages into their tent. A pile of dragon armor is sitting there in the middle of the tent.

"Great!"

The five of them work quickly to get the armor on and buckled. Once it's done, Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and WuFei all suit up in their own armor. Trowa whistles for another dragon and a great red dragon, already armored and saddled, lands next to Wing. A smaller green dragon, also armored, lands with them.

"My dad let us borrow his dragon, Heavyarms. Quatre and I will ride him. You two take Wing," Trowa informs the rider.

"And this is my dragon, Nataku," WuFei informs, petting the snout of the green dragon. "I'll ride her."

The rider nods and he and Duo mount Wing. Wing lets out a mighty roar that is echoed by hundreds of other dragons. Suddenly, a gold dragon lands in front of Wing, Nataku and Heavyarms.

Duke Dermail removes his helmet to address the five boys. "The dragon riders are all ready to go. You five lead them out to the approaching Epyon troops. Let's show them what happens when they attack us on our home turf."

"Yes, sir!" they all salute.

"You lead, Heero!" Trowa calls to the rider.

Heero nods and instructs the white dragon to take off. He lets out with another roar, then launches up off the ground. Trowa, Quatre, and WuFei all follow on their dragons, then thousands of other dragon riders take off behind them. The group flies dead straight towards the mass of Epyon soldiers. About five hundred yards from the Epyon army, Heero stands to address the soldiers behind him.

"Archers! Ready your weapons!" he shouts at them.

All archers stand and string their bows. Heero turns back around and holds a hand up in the air.

He drops his hand forward and shouts, "Fire!"

Hundreds of arrows whiz by Heero's head and hundreds of Epyon soldiers drop to the ground. Heero raises his hands again. "Fire!"

Another group of arrows fly by. He turns to the archers. "Fire at will! Mages also attack at will!" he instructs, then sits down and draws his sword.

Arrows, thunder, light, earth, and water magic all rain down around him onto the Epyon soldiers. Duo stands up behind him and he and WuFei add fire magic to the mix.

"Soldiers! Ready your weapons! Those not using magic or bows, dive!" Heero shouts.

The rider turns to Duo. "I'm leaving you up here on your own. I have to go down and fight. If your wings get tired, share WuFei's dragon, okay?"

"Why can't I stay with you?" Duo asks, his grip on the rider's shoulder tightening.

"Because you don't need to be down there. It's much more dangerous. Please stay up here."

"Fine. Be careful, please," the mage asks of the rider.

Heero nods, then Duo jumps off the back of the dragon to join the other mages. The dragon dives down and Heero swings his sword at every reachable enemy. Wing also lashes out with claw, tooth, and fire. He even uses his tail to swipe at the enemies. They make great progress, the weapon users not having to do too much. The mages are able to take out multiple enemies at once with their magic, and the thousands of dragons, sweeping their way through the lines also help. So when the soldiers on horseback ride in followed by the foot soldiers, the battle becomes too simple.

Heero takes his eye off the battle once to look up and check on Duo. He's up flying around next to Heavyarms, sending lightning bolts hailing down into the heads of the enemy soldiers.

But that one second was all it took to put him off guard enough for an attack. A lance suddenly plunges into his side, right into the break in his armor. He gasps, bringing his sword down onto the head of the enemy soldier. When the guy falls, he rips the lance out from his side with a pained cry.

Wing hears it and immediately pulls up out of the thick of the battle and lets out a cry, calling for someone to help his rider.

The fire mage hears the screech come from a dragon and looks down to see Wing pulling up out of the battle. His handsome rider is doubled over in his saddle, clutching at his side.

"Heero!" the mage cries, shooting off after the retreating dragon.

The dragon flies off away from the battle to prevent his master from getting hurt any further. He lets out another cry. Someone needs to help his master! He hears a familiar voice from behind him and stops, turning his head to see the winged human flying towards them.

Heero also hears Duo's voice. He turns, then stands, trying to mask the pain he's in. Duo lands ungracefully in front of him and immediately begins to fuss over him.

"Oh Goddess…" he breathes, then pulls the riders hand off the wound so he could replace it with his own.

The mage closes his eyes and starts to mutter something under his breath. Heero can only decipher a few of the word coming from the fire mage's lips.

"…I've done it before… come on… please work…"

Heero moves his gaze from the mage in front of him out to the battle beneath them. The battle seemed nearly finished. Suddenly, his side starts to tingle and glow light blue.

"Yes!" Duo cheers, then concentrates harder.

As the glow begins to fade, so does the pain. The blood seeping between the fire mage's fingers slows, then stops. All pain disappears. When Duo lifts his hands, the wound is gone completely. The only evidence to their ever being a wound is the hole in the rider's tunic.

"Yes! Yes yes yes! Is the pain gone? I'm not sure if I got all the internal damage… I should probably check," he rambles, putting his hands back on the rider's side. "Sometimes I don't get all the internal stuff, even if the external stuff is healed…" he continues to ramble.

"Duo," the rider says, trying to get the mage's attention. "Duo." Still the mage doesn't respond. "Duo!"

The mage looks up to ask what the rider wants. But the words are halted by the rider's lips brushing across his own. His heart explodes in his chest and his breath catches in his throat. He had always wanted to kiss the handsome rider, but now that it was happening, he could hardly believe it. It's just a light brush of lips and it's over in a second, but it felt like a lifetime to the shocked mage. He couldn't seem to put together a coherent thought, but all he knew was that he wanted to kiss the rider again.

Heero pulls away from the mage after a moment. He had no idea what made him do that. He didn't even mean to do that. He just did. He was glad he did though. He had wanted to do that for a while. When he looks at the shocked expression on the mage's face though, he starts to feel that that hadn't been such a good idea.

A blush starts to creep across the mage's face and the mage can feel it. He forces himself to look away from the rider's beautiful cobalt eyes.

"Are you okay?" he murmurs to the rider.

"Yes, thank you," is the quiet response.

"Well I should probably go back and help then…"

With that, the mage spreads his wings and takes off. The rider lets out an exasperated sigh.

"Shit," he curses at himself, running a hand through his bangs. "Let's go finish this," he tells his dragon.

The dragon snorts, reluctant to take his master back to danger, but unwilling to disobey the rider's orders. And he could sense there was something bugging his rider, so he didn't want to make things worse by disobeying him. He'd just have to work extra hard to keep him out of danger this time.

…

The battle ended quickly. There was no competition. The enemy was clearly unprepared for the severity of out counterattack. Once all the enemy soldiers were either dead or had retreated, the troops all headed back to their camp outside of Cancer. Dragon riders carried the wounded and dead back to the camp. And gratefully, there were not that many.

When Heero gets back to camp, he finds General Dermail talking with the General from Libra.

"Do we have a casualty count yet?" the rider asks.

"Not yet. The generals are going through their men now, though. I'll inform you as soon as we have a number."

Heero nods, then turns to go take off his dragon's armor as well as his own. He leads the dragon over to his and Duo's tent, then peeks inside, hoping to see the mage in there, but he's not. Heero lets out a sigh. Wing nudges his back, wondering what was bothering his master.

"Can you go find Duo for me?" the rider asks the dragon quietly. "Just make sure he's okay."

The dragon nods, then turns and takes off with a flap of his wings. Heero pulls off all his armor and stacks it neatly in the corner along with Wing's. Duo's armor is already there, so he was here not too long ago. The rider stands there for a moment in the middle of the tent, not sure what to do. He thinks over what had gone wrong with him and Duo. He really shouldn't have kissed the mage. What had happened to hiding his feelings until after the war? Now there was no hiding it. Duo knew exactly how the rider felt towards him. As his mind runs in circles, his fingers absent mindedly run across his side where the lance had speared him.

"You promised you'd be careful. Getting lanced is not careful," a quite voice says from the doorway.

Heero looks up quickly to see Duo standing in the doorway, his hands nervously messing with the end of his braid. He steps into the tent and up in front of Heero, but stays back a little.

"I'm sorry I flew off on you like that after you…" he trails off, a light blush coloring his cheeks. "I didn't know how to respond… But I guess I should've responded better than I did."

"You don't need to apologize. It was my fault. I shouldn't have—"

The rider is cut off by Duo placing a finger over his lips.

"Don't say you shouldn't have kissed me. I didn't mind. At all." The mage's blush grows.

"What I was going to say," Heero counters, taking Duo's hand and removing his fingers from his lips, "is that I should've waited until after this war to do that. Both of us need to focus all of our concentration and attention on the war, and I don't think we could do that if we start something."

"Oh…" the mage replies, looking down at the floor. "Yeah, you're right."

Heero sees the mage's disappointment and quickly tries to reassure him. "Don't think that I don't _want_ to start something, I just think I'd be best to wait until the war is over. That way we can focus all our attention on us without this war getting in the way."

The mage looks up at the rider with a small smile on his face.

The rider looks up when he hears General Dermail calling for him outside, then looks back down at Duo. He raises a hand to the mage's cheek, then leans forward to brush a light kiss on the other cheek. The rider then turns and exits the tent, leaving Duo alone. The mage raises a hand to the cheek the rider had kissed. His skin there is tingling. He smiles, then exits the tent after the rider, a definite spring in his step.

* * *

**Yay... kisssss XD See guys? A promise is a promise after all XD Thanks for all the reviews though. They make me happy ^-^**


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"We have the casualty count," General Dermail tells the rider when he approaches. "Three hundred and twenty-seven dead and six hundred and thirty-nine wounded."

"Well that's not too bad. I mean… we could've lost so much more…" Heero observes.

"We got very lucky for a first fight, and considering they caught us off guard."

"Yes we did, sir."

"The other generals and I are working on our attack plan on Virgo. We should take it soon after this victory to show Treize just how strong we are. When we have something, I'll call for you and Duo, alright?"

"Of course, thank you." Heero bows, then takes his leave.

Heero heads over to the tent and peeks inside. Duo is gone. The rider frowns and looks around. The winged mage is no where to be seen. Heero forces himself not to worry about Duo. This is what the rider was worried about. He can't be too worked up about the mage. He needs to just trust that Duo can protect himself and keep himself out of trouble.

Heero moves around through the camp, checking in on everyone, making sure everyone is alright. Then he makes his way over to where healers are working over the injured. And it shouldn't have surprised Heero to find Duo there helping.

He smiles and walks up to help a soldier limp up to the table where Duo was just finishing up with someone. Duo smiles at the rider when he sees him approach with the injured soldier. Both Heero and Duo help the man up onto the table.

"Where does it hurt?"

"My knee," he responds.

Duo moves his hands over the soldier's knee and within a few minutes, the soldier is walking away. Another soldier is walking up, clutching his elbow, when  
General Dermail jogs up to them.

"Heero? Duo? There's an army marching on us. They have a teal flag… Would that be Romefeller?"

"Yeah, it would. How far out are they?"

"About an hour. I'd like to send you out to see if they are actually Romefeller, and not actually Epyon soldiers in disguise."

"What?" Duo interrupts, stepping forward. "They just attacked. Why would it be Epyon again? And even if it is, you can't send Heero out alone."

"I'm just trying to be safe here. For all we know Treize knows we wouldn't expect another attack right after the other. We need to check it out."

"Then I'm going with him," Duo says.

"No," the rider retorts at the same time the General says, "Fine."

"I'll be fine, Duo."

"I'm coming with you," Duo insists.

"Fine," Heero snaps, giving in. He really doesn't want to argue with the mage.

The rider whistles for his dragon and the white beast lands right in front of them. The two climb on and head out in the direction of Romefeller.

Heero's shoulders are tense and he seems generally mad. Duo frowns a little and hugs the rider around the waist.

"Are you mad at me?" the mage murmurs.

The rider relaxes a little, his shoulders dropping. "No. I'm not mad at you. I can't be mad at you. I'm just frustrated."

"With me?"

"No. With myself. I can't help but want to protect you. I know that you can protect yourself, but…"

"I know how you feel. I feel the same way about you…"

The two are silent for the last few minutes out to the Romefeller troops. And when they land in front of the marching soldiers, the rider had no doubt that they are in fact from Romefeller. Heero recognizes the leader of the group as someone he had seen with the King when he had been there. Not wanting to be around these people longer than necessary, Heero turns the dragon around and heads back to camp.

…

The next few days go by in a flurry. All the injured troops are tended to by healers and completely healed by Duo. The new addition of the Romefeller troops is dealt with quickly, and added to General Dermail's complete tally of troops. Duo and Heero don't see each other at all over those few days. Duo works three straight days in the 'infirmary' healing the six hundred and thirty-nine wounded. Heero spends those three days with the generals, discussing battle strategies. When Duo finally drags himself back to the tent, half asleep, after everyone is healed, he immediately goes to bed and sleeps for twenty straight hours. Heero stays with him the whole time, because he needed to debrief him when he woke, but mostly because he'd rather be with Duo than anywhere else, even if the mage was asleep.

The decision was made that they would be storming Virgo early the next morning, so supplies were being packed and troops were preparing to get up and go first thing that morning. When that morning comes, Duo is still asleep. Heero gets all of his and Duo's stuff packed away. He packs his and the mage's armor into bags, but with Wing's armor, it was too much to carry in a pack, so he put it on the dragon. All that was left was to roll up Duo's bed and pack up their tent, but Heero didn't want to wake the sleeping mage. He really needed his rest after working seventy-two straight hours with the wounded. He'd give him a few more minutes of sleep.

The rider lies down next to the mage, having nothing better to do. He's almost asleep himself when the mage yawns and stretches, his eyes fluttering open. He smiles when he sees the rider next to him.

"Feel better?" the rider asks the mage.

"Mhmm," is Duo's sleepy reply.

The mage frowns and looks around, noting the emptiness of their tent. There hadn't been much to begin with, but now there was nothing except the bed roll he was sleeping on. Before he can ask though, the rider answers the question for him.

"We're moving out in about an hour. I got all our stuff already packed away," the rider informs him.

"An hour? Shit! Why didn't you wake me?" the mage curses, jumping up and quickly rolling up his bed.

"You needed sleep. And we still have time, so nothing to worry about," the rider shrugs, getting to his feet and giving Duo a hand.

"But I could've helped you pack…"

"It wasn't that much to pack, Duo," the rider laughs. He sticks his head out the door and whistles for Wing.

Wing rounds the corner and Heero puts Duo's bed roll in the packs with the rest of their stuff on Wing's back.

The two boys work quickly to fold up the tent and add it to the small amount in Wing's bag. Then the two mount up and fly around camp, informing everyone of their imminent departure. Soon, the entire troop of nearly fifty thousand were marching steadily towards Virgo.

…

The doors to the large thrown room open and Treize looks up from his maps to see his top general, Trant Clark, stride across the room, a soldier in his grip. The king of Epyon raises an eyebrow, unsure of what is going on here.

"Tell His Highness what you told me," the general demands of the Epyon soldier.

"We were defeated, sir," the soldier tells Treize, his whole body shaking with fear. "They were ready for us. Our entire army was obliterated in under an hour, sir. Only a few of us managed to escape. They had dragons, sir. And mages. We didn't stand a chance."

Treize frowns, his eyes clouding over in thought. Dragons… those could be very useful when they were on your side. Well it was time to meet fire with fire.

"Well then next time, we take dragons as well then. And I think it's the perfect time to test out our little experiment."

Trant's eyes widen a little. "How are the men supposed to get it to the battle field?"

"I'll get it there. You just move out the troops. Actually… wait a few days. I want to see what this Alliance army is planning…"

"Yes, sir."

Treize chuckles as he steps down from his thrown and strides across the room.

"What do you want me to do with him, sir?" Trant calls towards the retreating form.

"Kill him. I have no use for men who don't know how to win," the king commands, but then hesitates and turns back towards the two. "Wait."

Trant lowers his sword, which he had been just about to bring down on the soldier's neck.

"Was the Fire God there?"

The soldier, who had gone completely pail and was cowering in front of Trant, nods just enough for Treize to see.

"Is he as powerful as rumors say?"

"I don't know, sir. He wasn't using anything but fire magic. Actually… he used lightning too…"

Treize frowns, then looks at Trant.

"Don't kill him yet. I actually have a use for him."

…

"Are we there yet?" Duo asks from behind Heero. "I though Virgo was close by."

"It is. And we'll be there in about half and hour," the rider replies. "Remember that we're not going that fast because we have to stay back with the foot soldiers."

"They walk really slow…" the mage complains.

Heero chuckles and just shakes his head. After another about twenty minutes of flying, General Dermail glides up along side the two boys.

"We'll be there in about ten minutes. Do you boys have a plan on how to proceed once we get there?" he asks.

"I thought you were the one making the plans," Duo points out.

"Well we don't have an attack strategy as of yet…" the general admits.

Heero sighs and thinks. "How about we split the group into four and charge the walls from each side. I doubt there are too many Epyon soldiers there. If we really want to take them by surprise, Duo and I could fly around the perimeter and take out all the watch guards."

"Good idea. You two go do that now. Hopefully you'll be done by the time we arrive. I'll work on splitting up the troops. Does splitting them up by nation sound good?"

"Sounds good to me. I'll meet you with the southern group before we charge," the rider tells the general, then tells Wing to find the guards.

The dragon shoots off towards the Virgo border. He could smell humans not too far from here and headed in that direction. It doesn't take the dragon long to find the first one. Duo spots the guard up ahead and holds his hands in front of him, palms facing each other, then jerks them apart, as if he was snapping someone's neck. The guards neck snaps and he collapses to the ground. Heero looks over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow at the mage. Duo just shrugs, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

They continue like that all around the Wind Mage capitol. Duo snaps all the guards' necks with out even laying a finger on them. One though, he couldn't get right and nothing happened to the guard. So Wing took over, jaws clamping down on the guard, then tossing him off into the trees.

"Is that it, Wing?" the rider asks the dragon.

The dragon grunts an affirmative, then circles around to head back to the southern side of Virgo. As they head around, they pass a large group of the Alliance soldiers. Heero tells the dragon to hover with them for a moment.

"What group are you guys?" the rider calls down to one of the soldiers.

"The northern and eastern groups, sir," he replies.

"Is General Dermail still down with the southern group?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thanks," Heero says, then Wing takes off towards the southern border of the city.

They soon reach where the southern group is waiting and Wing lands next to Dermail on his dragon and Quatre and Trowa on Heavyarms. WuFei and Nataku then land down next to them.

"The troops are all ready, sir," WuFei informs Dermail.

"Good. And are all the watch guards taken care of?" the general asks, turning his attention to Heero and Duo.

"Yes, sir," Duo replies.

"What's the plan?" Heero questions.

"Once the sun sets completely, we all charge. That should give the northern group enough time to get into their positions. And we're not holding the dragons back with the rest of the foot soldiers. Everyone charges at full speed. So the dragons will get there first, followed by the mounted units, then the foot soldiers."

Heero nods, and pats Wing's neck. The two rifle through their packs and suit up in their armor. Once that's taken care of, the rider turns back to face Duo.

"I want you to stay with Wing. I'll be able to fight better if I'm on the ground, so I'm going to jump off him when we get to the city. It's too hard to fight while riding him. You stay on him and stay out of reach of lances and swords, okay?"

"I don't like the idea of you getting off him," Duo replies with a frown, keeping his voice down to keep the conversation private. "Yeah it'll be easier for you if you're on the ground, but you'll be much safer on Wing."

"I'll be careful, I promise," Heero replies.

"Where have I heard that before?" Duo asks sarcastically. "Oh, yeah, just before you got stabbed in the side with a spear."

"Because I was worrying about you. But if you stay with Wing, I won't have to worry about you."

"You shouldn't be worrying about me in the first place. I can protect myself."

"And so can I." Heero puts a finger over the mage's lips before he can protest.

The mage huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. Heero turns back around and looks off into the horizon, where the sun is almost completely set behind the trees. Heero checks over his armor one more time, then checks Wing's before the sun completely sets. Once it does, Dermail cries, "Charge!", and tens of thousands of troops take off towards the southern wall.


	18. Chapter 17

**Okay so I could have sworn that I had posted a chapter or two already today, but when I went to check, I hadn't O.o I could have sworn... Oh well. Sorry about that. Here it is. And the next one will be up in a second.**

* * *

Chapter 17

Wing, Heavyarms, and Nataku all stick side by side and blast full speed towards the wall. They're about a minute from the wall when the four mages all stand up and begin to take out the troops manning the outer wall. Heero looks around and sees dragons coming in from all sides. Arrows, and all sorts of magic is flying at the wall, taking out guard after guard.

Wing gets right before the wall and Heero stands, drawing his sword.

"Be careful!" the rider calls to the winged mage behind him before jumping off the white dragon.

His feet touch the stone and he rolls forward to take the force of the impact off his legs, then jumps up and swings his sword at the first guard that rushes him.

Duo watches Heero to make sure he is okay before turning his attention back to the city. From what he knows from Heero, Trowa, and other Lords, there are no Virgo citizens left in Virgo. That will make it a lot easier for the mage to just let loose, especially considering that the Alliance foot soldiers weren't yet in the city. The mage closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, concentrating on the wind in his face and the static in the air. He extends his arms out to the side, palms up, then take another deep breath. He pictures the good guys on their dragons, then the bad guys on the ground. Concentrating on the Epyon soldiers, he releases the built up power surging within him. Lightning rains down upon the heads of every Epyon soldier in his area. Hundreds of soldiers drop dead instantly.

The mage opens his eyes and lets out a cheer. That had worked much better than he had intended. He thinks about attempting it again, but just then the front gates slam open and the Alliance's mounted units' storm the city. The mage decides not to risk it and tells Wing to fly down closer to the ground so he could use more direct attacks.

Heero catches a glimpse of hundreds of lightning bolts striking down all at once and assumes that it was Duo's doing. He smiles, then swings his sword at the next Epyon soldier running at him. He has steadily worked his way around the wall, leaving many dead and wounded soldiers in his wake. Once the area around him is clear, he tries to quickly come up with his next strategy. There had to be some sort of leader here to run this place. And if he'd be anywhere, it'd be in the castle. He needed to get there and kill him. Once he did, the Epyon soldiers would fall into chaos with no one to instruct them.

The rider brings his fingers to his lips and whistles loudly for his dragon.

Wing's ear pricks up at the familiar whistle and turns quickly to head back for the wall. Duo was in the middle of attacking and wasn't expecting such a sharp turn. It nearly unseats him and he quickly drops down onto the dragons back in order to remain on the beast.

Heero sees his dragon approaching and raises his arm up in the air, signaling for the beast to just grab him and continue on. The dragon swoops down and grabs the rider's wrist, throwing him up into the air and into his palm. The rider lands gracefully on his feet, having practiced that move many times with his dragon. He places a hand on Wing's chest to help keep his balance, then looks up to Duo seated on the white dragon's back.

"Are you alright?" Heero calls up to him.

"I'm all good. You?"

"Never better," the rider responds.

"Got a plan?" the mage asks, his curiosity burning.

"I do, actually. We're going to go find the leader. Take us to the palace, Wing, then drop Duo and I off. You keep fighting, but stay out of trouble," the rider tells his steed, patting the scaly skin beneath his hand.

The dragon grunts an affirmative, then takes off full speed towards the castle. When they reach the inner wall, Heero grips his sword tighter, scanning to check for guards. There were a lot of them, but none of them could stop Wing. But then something catches the rider's eye. A dragon slayer. It is essentially a huge crossbow that fires arrows strong and large enough to pierce dragon scales.

"Shit! Duo! Can you take that out?" Heero calls to him, pointing at the contraption. Guards were already loading it up and preparing to fire.

"I'll try," Duo replies, a look of concentration coming over his face.

"At least kill the guards using it!"

Duo holds out his hands, muttering something under his breath. Fear grips Heero's gut when he sees them pulling back the lever. Duo wasn't working fast enough.

"Evasive maneuvers, Wing!" Heero calls just as the dragon slayer releases, launching the arrow up at Wing.

Wing tucks Heero up into his chest to protect him, and turns and dives to avoid the arrow. He manages to avoid it for the most part, but it catches on the very end of the thin membrane of Wing's wing, ripping a small tear about a foot long. That one tear though was enough to affect Wing's flying. The dragon is able to remain airborne, but his speed and grace is severely diminished.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Duo apologizes from on Wing's back, still frantically attempting to destroy the dragon slayer.

"Are you okay, Wing?" the rider asks. Of course the dragon wasn't alright, but it could've been a lot worse.

Suddenly, the dragon slayer explodes and Heero turns his face away just as the shock wave hits them. Duo exhales, lowering his arms and stroking the dragon's neck.

"I'm sorry, Wing," he apologizes.

"He'll be alright Duo. Don't worry about it. You did all you could," Heero reassures the mage.

The dragon grunts in agreement, then drops down in front of the castle wall. He lets Heero go and Duo jumps down next to him. He moves to Wing's wing to heal it, but Heero takes his wrist and pulls him towards the castle.

"Heal it later, we don't have time right now," the rider tells him, just as the dragon rains fire down on the guards running up to them.

The two turn and sprint into the palace. Duo hesitates for a moment, thinking, then points down the right hall. "That way!"

They continue to run down the hallways, Duo trying to lead them in the right direction.

"How do you know this is the right way?" the rider asks the mage as he leads them down yet another corridor.

"I've been here before. I'm taking us to the throne room. The leader would probably be there, right?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," the rider replies.

"Here we are," Duo announces, slowing before a set of large doors.

He takes a deep breath, then thrusts out his hands. The doors explode backwards, completely unhinging, and the two run in. Heero draws his sword and looks around. He doesn't see anybody. Heero's about to tell Duo that no one is here, but Duo raises a finger to silence him and listens carefully. Then, he suddenly grabs the rider's wrist and they take off towards the back left corner of the room.

"There's a corridor back here that leads to a safe room incase the city falls under siege," Duo explains. "I thought I heard someone down there."

They sprint full speed into the dimly lit corridor. They just barely catch a glimpse of a shadow turning the corner.

"Coward!" Duo shouts. "What kind of leader turns and flees from a battle!"

There is no response for a moment, but then one comes from right behind them.

"I'm not fleeing."

They both stop and whirl around to see man dressed in an Epyon uniform lunge at them with a double ended lance. Heero quickly jumps in front of Duo and deflects it before making an attack of his own. Duo quickly reacts, sending a blast of fire at the general. The man quickly spins the lance in front of him, shielding himself from the fire. Duo keeps it coming. The man has to keep deflecting the fire, leaving him wide open to and attack from Heero. Heero runs around back and lunges at him with his sword.

The man quickly moves the spinning lance to one hand and with the other, raises his armor clad arm up to deflect the rider's blow.

Duo ceases his rain of fire, then runs up to the man. He manages to get one hand on the top of his head, then lets loose a surge of electricity. The general seizes under the mage's hand, then collapses to the ground.

Both the boys relax, panting.

"You alright?" Heero manages between pants.

"Uh huh," is Duo's reply.

"Let's go," Heero says, straightening.

"Right," the mage agrees, remembering the battle still going on outside.

The two jog out to the front of the palace, where Wing is waiting for them, surrounded by dead Epyon soldiers. Duo immediately runs up to Wing's wing and puts his hands on either side of the tear. After a moment, the tissue glows blue and when Duo pulls his hand away, the tear is fixed with no evidence of it ever being there.

"Thank you," Heero breathes, giving the dragon a loving pat.

"It was the least I could do considering it was my fault he was wounded to begin with," the mage murmured, climbing up onto the dragon's back.

"You tried your best to stop it, Duo. It wasn't your fault."

"Whatever. Let's just get this finished up so we can get out of here."

The dragon takes off, marveling at how his wing was magically fixed and that he could fly again. He lets out a loud roar, then leads his two charges into battle.

…

Off standing in the trees with a clear view of Virgo, a scout watches. The soldier who had to relay his troops' loss to Treize sat nervously atop his horse. The king had spared his life for the time being, but only because he wanted him to follow the Alliance and relay information back to His Highness.

So he sat watching the entire battle play out. He had narrowly avoided being detected by that white dragon that had flown around, taking out all the watch guards. And then when a group over ten thousand strong marched past him and took up position a few hundred yards down from him, he though for sure he was going to be found. But no one noticed him on his black horse in the trees.

What Treize had really wanted him to look for was signs of the Fire God's magic. When the white dragon had flown around killing the watch guards, he saw that the guard near where he was hiding dropped dead without being touched. That was probably the work of the Fire God. And the lightning bolts that came down from nothing was probably him too.

That was all the soldier needed to see. He takes a pen and paper out of his bag and writes a quick message, then ties it to the leg of the hawk sitting on his shoulder.

"To Epyon," the soldier tells the hawk.

It squawks and then takes off in the direction of Epyon.

"You better watch out, Your Highness," the soldier murmurs. "He's just as powerful, if not more powerful, than the rumors have told."


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Back at the front gates, the battle is beginning to wind down. Duo and Heero join the fray, but it's only about an hour and a half later when the fighting ceases. Clean up begins immediately, the bodies of the Epyon soldiers being tossed out into the woods by the dragons. Heero and Duo find General Dermail, who is talking to the Prince of Virgo.

He had decided to join the Alliance Army so he could get his kingdom back. Although he wanted to stay and help fight, the General insisted that he should stay here with a few hundred soldiers to guard the city incase Treize tried to retake Virgo. And, since he is the heir to the throne, it was only right for him to begin rule over his city.

With that taken care of and a crowning ceremony scheduled for the next day, everyone began to set up camp in the abandoned homes. Heero, Duo, Quatre, Trowa, and WuFei all bunk in one of the larger homes near the inner wall. They all sat cross legged on their bed rolls as Quatre said a quick prayer to the Goddess, asking her for more good luck in future battles. Then, the lights are blow out and the five try to fall asleep.

Early the next morning, everyone gathers outside the castle for the crowning of the new Wind Mage Lord. After the ceremony, everyone moves around cleaning up the capitol. Damaged buildings are being fixed, the streets are cleaned, and everyone works hard to restore the capitol back to how it used to be and erase all signs of Epyon's presence.

All the generals are called into a meeting to decide their next course of action. It was easily decided that the army would stay and rest another day or two in Virgo before they moved on to their next city. There was much more debate on that subject, though. It was almost evenly divided between those who wanted to storm straight into Epyon, and the ones who wanted to continue reclaiming seized cities.

"We need to take Epyon before our men become too tired," the Taurus general argues.

"We're not ready to march straight into Epyon. Our soldiers are still learning to fight with each other," General Dermail counters.

"The sooner we take Epyon, the sooner we can end this war," the Romefeller general says.

The arguments continue, Libra and Aquarius taking sides with Cancer, and Pisces taking sides with Romefeller and Taurus. Peacemillion doesn't put in an opinion, and Heero and Duo stay out of it, letting the men who know what they're doing run the meeting.

"What does the Fire God think?" Dermail suddenly asks. "Let him make the decision."

Duo looks up in surprise and stutters slightly. He glances at Heero and the rider shrugs in amusement. Duo looks back at the generals and tries to think. He goes over everyone's opinions and considers every option, then comes up with the most logical answer.

"We're not ready to go into Epyon. I suggest we take back a few more cities to get more experience before going to Epyon."

"Then to Altron we go," Dermail announces. "This meeting is adjourned."

Everyone stands and Duo hurries out of the room, trying to avoid the glares from some of the generals. Heero follows him out, returning some of the glares directed at the mage.

Once they are out of the palace and alone, Duo turns to Heero.

"Did I say the right thing? What did you think?" the mage asks him.

"It's your opinion, Duo. It can't be wrong. But for the record, I would've said the same thing," the rider replies.

The mage breathes a sigh of relief. "I think they're mad at me," the mage frowns.

"Don't worry about them. They asked for your opinion, so they shouldn't be upset when it wasn't what they were looking for. And by the way… only half of them are mad at you."

That makes the mage frown more. The rider chuckles and nudges him as they continue down the steps.

"Don't worry about it," the rider reassures.

…

Treize looks up when a hawk flies in through the open window. It lands on the arm of his throne and Treize unties the note before shooing the bird away. He reads the note, then smiles.

"Perfect. Trant!" he calls.

"Yes, sir?" the general asks, hurrying into the room.

"The Alliance army just took Virgo back from me. What do you suppose their next move would be?"

"Uhm, it seems like they're working on reclaiming the nations you've taken. So my assumption is that they'd move up to the next closest city. So Altron probably."

"Exactly what I was thinking. Gather the troops and send them to Altron. And I'll be sending our creation to them once they get there."

Trant nods, then hurries out of the room.

…

After a few days rest, the army is up and moving again. Wing, Heavyarms, and Nataku walk side by side, their riders talking and laughing with each other. The procession is slow and it makes the dragons jittery. After half an hour of walking, they boys can't put up with it anymore and dismount the high strung dragons and let them go off to mess around and release their pent up energy.

It only takes the troop a few hours to march from Virgo to Altron, but the generals decide to stop and wait until morning to attack. So a few miles out from the Altron border, the troop stops to set up camp. Once tents are set up, hundreds of large fires are lit and soldiers gather around, sharing stories and laughing with one another. The generals offer a spot for Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and WuFei at their fire, but they all turn them down, preferring to set up their own little fire for the five of them.

The five talk and eat and laugh. Even the dragons are having a good time behind their masters. Heavyarms and Wing play fight, clawing and snapping at each other like immature puppies. Nataku sits to the side and watches the boys' antics like a mother would watch her sons play.

As the night wears on and fires die down, soldiers begin to turn in for the night. Soon, the five boys are almost the only ones out. WuFei stands.

"I'm going to go to bed. I'll need all my strength for tomorrow," he says, then disappears into his tent after giving Nataku a loving pat.

Trowa and Quatre stand up then and also decide to go to bed, leaving Heero and Duo alone. The two sit in silence for a few moments, neither of which knowing what to say to the other. Duo fidgets with the end of his braid, trying to think of what to say to the rider.

"I think we should hit the sac too. WuFei is right. We'll need all our strength for tomorrow," Heero suggests, standing.

He starts walking to the tent, but then hesitates halfway there, realizing that he wasn't being followed.

"I know I've apologized a hundred times already, but I'm sorry for getting Wing hurt," the mage murmurs, still staring at the smoldering embers in front of him.

"And I've already told you a hundred times that it wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could've done, Duo. They were too quick. And it wasn't a very bad wound. It was actually probably the best wound he could've gotten."

"But it could've been so much worse if he hadn't moved out of the way."

"But it wasn't, Duo."

"I let you get hurt too, in the first battle, though. And yeah Wing's wasn't too bad, but yours was. I can't seem to protect anyone. I'm always saying that I'm so powerful, and I can protect myself… but if I can't protect those close to me, what's the point of having this great power?"

Heero sighs and walks back over to the log Duo is sitting on. He steps over it, then sits down next to Duo so that their shoulders are almost touching.

"You're only human, Duo. Yes you have an amazing power, but a person's power is only as strong as the person is. I don't want you worrying about me, Duo. I want you concentrating on keeping yourself safe, and protecting the innocent, the people who can't protect themselves. I can protect myself. The only reason I got hurt is because I was busy worrying about you. So how about I promise not to worry about you too much and you promise not to worry about me too much."

Heero stands up and heads towards the tent again. He doesn't hesitate this time when Duo doesn't follow. Duo remains on the log, staring at the embers.

"I won't make promises I can't keep," Duo murmurs, once Heero is out of ear shot.

The mage sighs, then tosses a bucket of water on the embers and heads to the tent to join the rider in catching some sleep.

…

Everyone is up bright and early the next morning, preparing for the fast approaching battle. Tents are packed, swords are sharpened, and armor is donned. WuFei had gotten up extra early so that once he was done packing up, he'd have time to mediate. Duo observes the fire mage with a thoughtful frown as he tightens a strap of Wing's armor.

"I should learn to meditate," Duo muses out loud when Heero approaches to help him with the armor.

"And why is that?" the rider asks.

"He's always so calm, even in the midst of a battle. And his magic always seems so strong. The only thing I can think of as to why that is, is because he meditates. I'd like to be calm too… I hate being stressed," the mage pouts.

"Then don't be stressed. You can control whether or not you become uptight like that."

"I can't control it," the mage grumbles in disagreement.

"Then ask WuFei to teach you how to meditate," the rider shrugs, not seeing the problem that Duo was obviously seeing.

"I will…"

The two continue to armor up the great dragon, then proceed to pull on their own armor. They help each other tighten some straps, then Heero pulls his sword about halfway out of the sheath to examine the blade. Sharp as ever. Sheathing the blade and mounting his dragon with Duo right behind him, the two take off to go find the generals.

…

A hawk soars through Treize's open window and he looks up at the bird's approach. When the bird lands next to him, he unties the string around it's leg, then unrolls the note.

'The Alliance is camping out outside of Altron. They won't attack until tomorrow morning,' the note reads.

It was currently an hour after sunrise. The bird must have been sent some time last night by his spy, and had taken all night to get here. So the Alliance would be attacking Altron soon. This was perfect. Treize chuckles to himself as he calls for his witch. A minute later, Dorothy enters the room and drops to one knee before him.

"You called for me My Lord?" she asks the king.

"It's time to send the Alliance a little gift, my dear, to show them how much I appreciate all they have done."

"Where too, sir?" she asks, standing up, a smile on her face. The day had finally come when she could test out her creation.

"Altron."

The witch bows her head, then hurries to her spell room. She finds her chalk and begins to scrawl out a long spell. This spell would transport anything anywhere. In a matter of minutes, her beautiful work of art, an art that took her nearly a year to create, would be wiping out the entire Alliance army. An evil laugh echoes against the four walls around her as she scrawls her spell. Somewhere behind her, from within it's cage in the darkness, the beast roars, begging its release.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

This time, there would be no sneak attack, no waiting until nightfall, no taking out the watch guards, no attacking from all sides. They were just rushing the city. Plain and simple. As soon as the army reached the end of the trees, they would charge. It was a long stretch to cross before they reached the wall. That was why it would be hard to sneak attack.

Once the army is up and moving, it takes them only about an hour to reach the end of the trees. The second the first line of horses reaches it, the dragons surge forward, followed by the rest of the Alliance.

The dragon riders are about halfway across the field, Wing, Heavyarms, and Nataku leading the pack, when suddenly there's this loud _crack_ sound and a huge creature appears before them. It was a dragon… sort of… It had the body of a dragon, but had three long necks each with it's own head. And it was huge. It was about ninety feet long, thirty feet tall, and had a wingspan of also about ninety feet. It was about three times larger than the other dragons.

Wing puts on the brakes, as do Nataku, Heavyarms, and every other dragon.

"What the hell is that?" Duo exclaims.

"Epyon is home to all the witches of the world. Perhaps they concocted this?" the rider guesses.

But that is all the conversation there is. The creature lunges forward, all three sets of teeth snapping. Wing barely manages to dodge the beast's jaws, and Heero looks around to see that Heavyarms and Nataku also managed to avoid.

The rider signals for the rest of the dragon riders to continue around the creature and head for Altron. Trowa, Quatre, and WuFei all stay back to help Heero and Duo with the beast.

"Trowa! Quatre! Take the left head! WuFei! You take the right! We'll take the center!" Heero calls across to them.

They all nod in affirmative and take off towards the beast. The beast lashes out, nearly chomping down on Wing's right wing. Wing collides straight into the beast's neck, claws digging in and teeth ripping and tearing at the skin behind the beast's horns. The beast screeches and reaches a hand up, grabbing Wing around the neck and ripping him off. Heero is unseated, as is Duo, and they both fall from the dragon's back.

Duo extends his wings and catches Heero.

"Wing!" the rider cries as he watches his ten thousand pound dragon get thrown aside as if he were a half pound doll.

WuFei flies up next to the two boys and motions for them to climb on Nataku. Duo sets Heero down behind WuFei, but then takes off to go help Wing.

"Duo!" Heero calls after the winged mage, but the mage is already too far away.

"He can protect himself," WuFei assures the rider, then takes off to go take care of the right head of the beast.

The dragon catches himself, then turns around and launches himself back at the creature's head. He avoids the snap at him, then grabs on to the beast's head. He immediately goes for the eyes, clawing both out. The beast shrieks, tossing his head, trying to dislodge the white dragon on his snout. The beast snaps his teeth at the flailing hind legs within it's grasp. He manages to catch one leg and the white dragon cries out in pain, then claws harder. The beast reaches up, but this time Wing is ready for him. He sees the clawed hand reaching up for him and clamps down on the palm of the creature's hand. It rips his hand away with another cry. Wing jumps from the beast's head, then turns around to rain fire down on it. But with the fire blocking his view, he doesn't see the beast snap at him until it's too late.

Nataku avoids a snap by the beast, then circles around the back of the head. WuFei and Heero both jump off the green dragon and onto the beast's head. Nataku releases a jet of fire at the beast, trying to burn it's eyes out. WuFei sends a fire blast down one of it's ears and the beast shrieks, shaking his head. The two manage to remain on the beast, then Heero lifts his sword and plunges it down into the creature's head. It doesn't even have time to cry out before the head starts to drop. Nataku circles around and catches the falling boys. Heero looks to find the winged mage and his dragon and finds them just as disaster strikes.

Wing jumps back in surprise and that is the only thing that kept his head out of those razor sharp teeth. He didn't completely avoid damage though. Although his head avoided the sharp teeth, his right wing wasn't so lucky. The jaw clamps down on the white dragon's wing, his teeth ripping through thin membrane and crushing bone. Wing cries out and tries to pull away from the creature. The beast thrashes his head, whipping the dragon all around. Wing feels the wing joint pull from the socket and squeals in pain. But then a clawed hand slams into his head and he blacks out.

Duo's heart drops when he sees the beautiful white dragon's wing get snatched in the beast's mouth. He needs to kill that thing before it can do any more damage to Heero's dragon. If that dragon died, Heero would be devastated. And he couldn't let that happen.

The mage holds out his hands and pulls water from the very air around him. He thrusts his hands forward, sending the water shooting towards the dragon. The mage then fists his hands, causing the water to freeze into many large spikes. But a split second before the spikes impale the dragon's head, Wing goes limp and the mage fears that he was too late.

The head dies in a heartbeat and it's grip on the white dragon releases. Wing falls, crashing to the ground in a big heap. Duo rushes down to try and heal the dragon if possible.

Heero watches the whole scene play out, unable to move, unable to breath. He couldn't believe what was happening before him. With every shake of the beast's head, Heero practically feels his dragon's pain. He wants to go help the dragon, save his best friend, but he knows there is absolutely nothing he can do. But then, Duo saves his dragon for him. Many large ice spikes impale into the beasts head, killing it instantly, but Heero sees that the mage was already too late. Wing had gone limp.

WuFei turns Nataku around and has her fly Heero down to his dragon. His heart goes out to the young rider. Luckily, he has never had to experience this kind of tragedy with his beloved Nataku, but he knows how he would feel if he was in the rider's position.

Heero jumps off Nataku in a daze and hurries as fast as his legs will carry him to Wing's side. Duo is already working vigorously to heal the white dragon's many wounds. Heero shuffles over to Wing's head and collapses to his knees. He leans over the white dragon's head and leans his forehead against the white scales, his hand lightly stroking over his neck.

"Please don't leave me," the rider whispers, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I-I can't live without you…"

Duo sees the rider breaking down next to him and it breaks his heart. He tries even harder to heal the dragon's many wounds. But he fears that he is working with a corpse, that it's already too late. But then, the dragon's chest rises, his lungs expanding. The mage gasps.

"Heero! He's alive!"

The rider looks up to see a shining black eye starting back at him. Heero laughs a shaky laugh, then wraps his arms around the dragon's snout.

"Good boy, Wing," the rider coos to his dragon. "Good boy."

A long tongue snakes out and licks the rider's arm. The rider chuckles and presses a kiss to his friend's scaly head.

Duo sighs in relief and turns back to the wounds. He knows how to heal cuts, but found out while treating the soldiers that he can't heal broken bones. And Wing has a lot of them. Both major bones in this back left leg are shattered, a major bone in his right wing is broken, the rotator cuff to that wing is cracked, and there is a fracture on the fourth vertebrae in his neck.

"Heero?" the mage calls tentatively. He's afraid that the rider will get mad at him for not being able to fix all his dragon's wounds.

"Yes?" the rider replies, wiping his tears away quickly and moving to sit next to the mage.

"I was able to heal all the teeth wounds and lacerations, along with some of the internal damage, but… I can't fix his broken bones…" the mage admits quietly.

"Okay… How many broken bones does he have?" the rider asks, surprisingly calm.

"Two in his leg, one in his wing, a chipped rotator cuff, and a fracture on the fourth vertebrae," the mage responds.

"So that means…"

"He can't walk, fly, and he shouldn't lift his head."

The rider nods, then reaches out to gently stroke the dragon's arm. "I'm sorry, boy. I'm sorry I let this happen to you…"

Duo is about to tell Heero that it's not his vault, when the rider suddenly turns and pulls him into a tight hug.

"Thank you for saving him," the rider tells the mage.

"I didn't—"

"Yes you did," the rider interrupts. "You killed the beast. If you hadn't, it would've killed Wing."

"I couldn't let him die, Heero. I had to do something."

"I know. And thank you."

They sit like that for a moment, but then Duo pulls back.

"His wing is dislocated. I need your help to pop it back into place," he tells the rider.

Heero nods and they walk around Wing to his back.

"Careful, this is the bone he broke," the mage warns.

Again, Heero just nods and they both take hold of the wing, then pull hard, trying to slide it back into the socket. Wing whimpers in pain, claws digging into the ground and eyes squeezing shut. With one final jerk, the two boys manage to get the wing back into it's socket.

"I'm sorry boy," the rider whispers, petting the dragon's neck.

A shriek sounds above them and the two look up just in time to see the third and final head fall dead, then the entire beast collapses to the ground. The beast writhes for a moment or two, but then goes completely still. Nataku and Heavyarms fly down and land on either side of Wing.

"Is he okay?" Quatre calls down to them.

"He'll be okay. He can't fly though," Heero tells them.

"We'll have Nataku and Heavyarms carry him over to the supply carts. He can ride on one of those until he is healed. Then Nataku can fly the two of you to battle," WuFei offers.

Heero nods and he and Duo climb up onto Nataku's back. Heavyarms and Nataku then work together to gently lift the injured dragon up and carry him back to the tree line, where the supply carts and wounded soldiers were waiting. The two dragon's carefully lower him onto a cart.

"I'll be back, buddy," the rider tells his steed.

The dragon grunts in reply and Heavyarms and Nataku then turn around and shoot off towards Altron.

…

Dorothy watches through the eyes of her creation as mere children take it down, head by head. When the third head is killed, her connection breaks off and she is brought back to her spell room. She just sits there for a moment, unable to move. How could her beautiful creation, a creation that took her a year to create, be taken down in just minutes? And how would she possibly be able to face Treize? She'll let him down, he'll lose faith in her, and the power and rank she's worked so hard for will be taken from her.

She grinds he teeth, then cries out in rage, flipping the table right in front of her.

"You'll pay for this, Fire God. I'll make you pay for this if it's the last thing I do."


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Dermail meets up with the five boys at the outer wall, waving them down. Nataku and Heavyarms land and the five hurry down to speak with the general.

"Where's Wing?" Dermail asks.

"Injured," Heero replies.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"What did you need to talk to us about?" Duo asks quickly, wanting to take the attention off of Wing's absence.

"There are still Altron citizens here. Our first priority is getting them all out safely. All our dragons are carrying them out of the city and on the other side of the walls. I'm going to ask to borrow your dragons so that they can help," Dermail tells them.

"Of course," Trowa agrees, waving Heavyarms away to go help.

Nataku follows the red dragon and the two dive down to were a mother and her children are cowering in an alley, trying to get away from the battle going on around them. Dermail dismisses the two boys and his dragon swoops down to pick him up and carry him down to the battle. Nataku and Heavyarms do the same with the five boys on their way back from dropping off the civilians.

Duo stays up in the air, fighting from above as the other four fight from the ground. There weren't too many enemy soldiers here, and their leader came out to help with the fight, so there was no running around to try and find him. Duo kills him quickly, and the remaining soldiers fall into chaos. Just when the Alliance starts to think they have this battle won, there is a cry from the wall.

"Epyon soldiers are marching toward us!" and Alliance soldier cries. "There's about ten thousand of them!"

Dermail mounts his dragon and flies over the soldiers, shouting orders.

"Once the Epyon soldiers here are dead, escort the civilians back inside the wall and mount you dragons! We can not let them take the city back!" Dermail orders to the Alliance members.

It takes a few more minutes to wipe out the rest of the Epyon guards inside the wall, then the gates open and the citizens are brought back into the city. A few soldiers escort the citizens all the way back to the palace and tell them to hide inside. Nataku and Heavyarms pick up their charges, and the five head out to the front of the city. Duo's eyes widen as he sees the mass of purple moving towards them. There are so many… And they have dragon riders, and are towing large machines that look like dragon slayers.

"Shit," the winged mage curses, his grip tightening on the rider.

"Our army is nearly five times larger than theirs is," WuFei says.

"But it's not always size that matters. If those are dragon slayers, then they have a serious advantage," Heero counters.

"We just have to have faith," WuFei murmurs.

Dermail cries for the Alliance to charge. That Epyon needs to be kept as far away from Altron as possible. Dragons surge forward and the rest of the army follows as quickly as they can. About five hundred yards from the approaching Epyon army, all of their dragon slayers release. Many dragons manage to avoid the large arrows, but some don't. Heero watches dragon after dragon fall.

"Take out the dragon slayers! Take them out!" Heero cries.

Nataku and Heavyarms, followed by a few others, all charge straight for the large machines. Some fire before the dragons can reach them, but the others are crushed by claw and teeth. Nataku continues to fly just above the ground, clawing through rows and rows of soldiers. Other dragons follow her example and nearly half the army is eliminated before the soldiers on horseback arrive.

Duo and WuFei both stand to help with the attack. Duo raises his hands out, and every time he drops his hands, a area of land about twenty feet by twenty feet explode, taking out every Epyon soldier standing there. Heero marvels at the sheer power Duo is capable of. He doesn't doubt that Duo could single handedly take out this entire army. But Heero wants to help in this battle too, and he can't do anything from where he's sitting. Nataku is taking care of all the soldiers in her flight path, so there are none with in reach of Heero's sword. So, Heero stands, then jumps off.

"Heero!" Duo cries, following him.

The rider rolls, then jumps up and cuts down every soldier around him. Duo hovers above him, taking out all the ones he misses. The clanking of metal draws Heero's attention to his right and he sees a still standing dragon slayer taking aim for Nataku. The rider takes off towards the machine. Realizing he's not going to make it before the soldier fires the weapon, he reaches down and pulls a knife out of his boot. He flips it over in his hand and then throws it at the soldier. Just before the soldier releases the arrow, Heero's knife imbeds itself into the soldier's neck. The soldier falls dead and Heero jumps onto the machine, pulling his knife out of the soldier's throat. He then turns his attention to the machine itself. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees enemy soldiers rushing towards him. He had about ten seconds to destroy it before they get to him.

But wait… he doesn't have to destroy it, he realizes. He turns the contraption towards the rushing soldiers and fires it. It wipes them all out, sending dirt and rock flying everywhere. Heero then lifts another arrow onto the machine and turns it towards the enemy dragons. He fires one and it hits home. Both dragon and rider fall nearly one hundred feet to the ground, and if they weren't dead before they hit ground, they were now. Heero reloads and fires another, and another, and another. He picks enemy dragons that aren't near any of the Alliance dragons encase he misses. He brings down nearly half of the enemy dragons.

The rider is in the process of loading another arrow when he hears the clank of a machine off to his left. He looks up to see another dragon slayer taking aim at him. The rider is about to jump off the machine when a loud crash draws his attention back to the dragon slayer. He looks up just in time to see Heavyarms completely demolish the machine.

Trowa winks and Quatre gives the rider a thumbs up. Heero waves back to them and continues to fire arrow after arrow. Once a majority of the dragons are down, he turns his aim to groups of Epyon soldiers. Again, he concentrates on taking out areas where there are no Alliance soldiers to lessen the risk of accidentally killing one of his own men. He fires four more arrows into the ground, killing nearly one hundred enemy soldiers, before he runs out of arrows.

"Shit," he curses, then looks around. He spots another undamaged dragon slayer about one hundred yards north and takes off towards it.

Duo watches as Heero takes out the soldier arming the dragon slayer aimed at Nataku. He assumes that Heero is then going to destroy the machine, but then surprises him by firing off one of the arrows at approaching soldiers, then firing at the dragons. Duo smiles at Heero's creativity, then works on keeping Heero protected by taking out any soldiers rushing the dragon slayer. When another dragon slayer turns it's aim at Heero, Duo raises his hands to destroy it, but before he gets the chance, Heavyarms barrels through it. He says a silent thanks to Trowa and Quatre, then concentrates back on the soldiers trying to rush Heero's position as he runs towards another dragon slayer.

Heero makes it onto the next dragon slayer and quickly kills the two soldiers arming it. But before he gets to firing it, he takes a moment to try and find Duo and make sure he's okay. He finds the winged mage quickly and their eyes lock. Heero smiles at the mage, then turns his attention to the dragon slayer.

Duo smiles back at the rider, then goes back to watching his back. He takes down a group of soldiers running up towards him, then takes out a dragon slayer aiming at Heero with a simple flick of his wrist. He feels his power surge within him. The magic he has been using is only a small fraction of what he's capable of. He wants to show off his powers to the Epyon soldiers. It'll be the last thing they see.

He calls upon all his power and starts to feel it take over him. He's losing control of his own body. Duo doesn't like that feeling and tries to fight it, but it's become to strong. Suddenly, a cry comes from the rider and immediately, Duo has control of his own body again.

Heero was too busy loading the dragon slayer to notice that one of the two guys he had taken down wasn't dead. The soldier had managed to get a hold of the rider's knife and plunge it into his leg. Heero cries out in pain, then rips the blade out of his leg and plunges it into the soldier's back, just above his heart, killing him instantly. He looks up towards Duo and sees that the mage is headed down toward him. The rider holds out his hand to tell him to stop.

"Don't you dare!" Heero warns the mage. "Keep fighting!"

Duo stops when Heero tells him to, but doesn't want to leave Heero with a wound in his leg.

"Don't worry about me! I'm fine!" the rider calls up to him.

Duo's eye catches an Epyon soldier right behind Heero and the mage quickly kills him before he can lay a hand on the rider. He then realizes that Heero is right, he needs to keep fighting and needs to keep the rest of the soldiers away from Heero.

The rider turns his attention back to the dragon slayer and concentrates hard on taking down enemies, trying to get his mind off the feeling of blood streaming down his leg. The wound was deep, but he didn't have time to have Duo heal it. He needed to keep fighting. Duo can heal it for him once this battle is over. If he doesn't bleed out first…

Even from a fair distance away, Duo can see the amount of blood soaking into Heero's pants. He needs help now. Which means this battle has to end now. Duo hesitates calling upon all his power again, not liking the feeling of loosing control of his own body. But he has to in order to heal Heero before he bleeds out. He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, then calls forth that surge of power. It rushes from it's locked cage in the back of Duo's mind eagerly and completely takes over.

Suddenly, the winds pick up, nearly blowing Heero from his spot on the dragon slayer. He looks up to see Duo hovering up in the air. His wings have stopped flapping and he is merely hanging there. His arms are extended and his head is tilted up slightly. Heero can sense there is something different about the mage. When he starts to glow faintly red, the rider knows that something is up.

Angry storm clouds race in from all directions, covering the sky above the battle. Every soldier, Alliance and Epyon alike, stop to stare. Heero watches in awe as Duo starts to glow brighter, then a dark grey mist swirls down from storm clouds. It drifts down like fog and swirls around every soldier. Heero notices in amazement that the mist steers clear of all Alliance members, its smoky wisps not coming anywhere near them. But the mist encases all Epyon members. One the mist covers the entire battlefield, covering every Epyon soldier and staying off of every Alliance member, Duo takes a deep breath, then sweeps his hand parallel to the ground. The mist evaporates, taking with it every Epyon soldier.

The battle is over. Not a Epyon soldier remains in sight. Even the dead Epyon soldiers disappeared with the mist. But in it's wake, it reveals true tragedy. For every disappeared Epyon soldier, alive or dead, there is a dead Alliance soldier. And the injuries nearly double that number, leaving the Alliance with only about twenty thousand healthy soldiers.

Heero looks up to see Duo floating slowly down. Once he gets about a foot off the ground, he hesitates, then suddenly collapses.

"Duo!" Heero cries, jumping off the dragon slayer and hobbling over to the mage collapsed on the ground.

When he gets to Duo's side, he falls to his knees, pulling the mage up into his arms. The mage's eyes flutter open and he smiles up at the rider.

"Did I get 'em?" Duo mumbles.

"What the hell was that?" the rider demands.

"I let my powers take control," the mage murmurs. "Did it work?"

"Hell yes it worked!" the rider laughs.

"What did I do?"

The rider's smile fades. "What do you mean 'what did I do'? Didn't you see it?"

The mage shakes his head. "I blacked out…" the mage murmurs, but then suddenly remembers why it was that he let his powers take over. He quickly sits up and turns his attention to Heero's leg. Duo manages to heal the wound, but there is nothing he can do about the blood loss. Now that the wound is closed, no more blood will be lost and the rider's body will be able to produce more blood, but it'll take a while. And Heero will be weak until he gets that blood back.

Duo lifts Heero into his arms and carries him back towards Altron. All the other wounded are helped into the city by dragons and healthy soldiers. Heero explains to Duo on their way to the city what exactly it was that Duo did.

"Why can't I do something like that on my own?" Duo grumbles, making the rider laugh.

Once everyone is secure in the city and the supply carts with the wounded from previous battles are brought in, General Dermail calls for a meeting immediately.

"Treize knew we would be attacking Altron," he growls. "That's why he sent those reinforcements and that beast. The only way he could've possibly known our plan is if someone in our ranks is leaking information to him."

"Or if he has a spy," WuFei counters, walking through the doors to the meeting room. Behind him, Nataku follows, an Epyon soldier held up by his tunic in her mouth. "I ran across him in the woods while searching for any remaining Epyon soldiers. He had a hawk with him and was in the middle of writing a message to Treize."


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Nataku drops the man to the ground, then puts her hand on his legs when he tries to crawl away. Dermail stands and hurries over.

"How much have you told Khushrenada?" Dermail demands of the soldier.

The soldier remains quiet. Nataku growls, pressing her claw into his back. The soldier cries out in pain.

"How much have you told Khushrenada?" Dermail shouts at him.

"I just told him what you guys were doing, when you were attacking," the soldier replies quickly. "And I told him that the Fire God is as powerful as rumors say he is."

All is silent for a while. Heero sneaks a concerned glance at Duo. The mage doesn't seem to react very much to hearing that Treize knows about him.

"Put him in the dungeons," Dermail orders.

"Shouldn't we just kill him?" one of the other generals argues.

"If we kill him, Treize will know we found him when he stops receiving letters. We'll keep him alive and have him write fake letters to Treize so we don't draw any suspicion. Take him to lock up."

WuFei nods and motions for Nataku to pick the man back up. She does and follows her master out of the room and down to the dungeons.

The rest of the meeting is spent discussing their plans for their next battle. It is unanimously decided that everyone needs a long rest. Two weeks is decided. In those two weeks, everyone would concentrate on recovering completely, and those that are unharmed, will try to recruit more troops. The army took a big hit and that hole really needs to be filled.

Once the meeting is adjourned, Heero immediately heads out to the dragon stables where Wing was taken, Duo following right behind him. Heero slides open the barn door and Wing grunts when he sees his master approach him and tries to lift his head.

"Easy boy, don't hurt yourself," Heero murmurs, kneeling down by the dragon's head.

The dragon nuzzles Heero's legs and Heero strokes the dragon's snout. Duo turns to leave, wanting to give the rider some private time with his steed.

"Please don't leave," Heero murmurs without turning around.

Duo stops and turns back around, sitting down next to Heero.

"Thank you for fixing him up. Again," Heero adds quietly.

"It was my pleasure, Heero. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I love this big guy too, and it hurts me as well to see him hurt."

A rumble echoes deep in Wing's throat, almost like a purr as he nuzzles Duo's leg too.

"I think he also says thank you," Heero translates with a smile.

"You're welcome," Duo giggles, giving the dragon a kiss on the forehead.

Many more hours pass and the two remain in the stables with Wing. Little conversation is passed, most of it being to the dragon. It takes Heero a while to realize that the sun has set and it's already nearly ten.

"I'm sorry to keep you up, Duo," Heero quickly apologizes. "You can go get some rest."

"Are you coming too?" the mage asks.

"No, I'm going to sleep here with Wing tonight."

"Well then I'll stay with you," Duo says. "Unless of course you would like me to give you two some privacy."

"No, it'd be nice if you stayed."

The two curl up in the thick hay beside the white dragon. The dragon shifts his uninjured wing to cover the two boys like a blanket. Although the heater in the stables was on, he still didn't want to risk them getting cold.

It doesn't take too long for both Duo and Wing to fall asleep, leaving Heero lying awake. Heero's mind is swimming as he stares at Duo's sleeping face. He has the strongest urge to scoot closer and wrap the mage in his arms. That gets him thinking about his promise to Duo to wait until after the war to start a relationship with him. He had decided that would be best so that they wouldn't worry too much about each other, and so they could concentrate on the war. But the rider is quickly realizing that just the opposite is happening. He doesn't know about Duo, but his holding off on their relationship isn't doing anything to lessen Heero's worry over Duo. Nothing could ever change that. And as for concentrating on the war… the rider feels that he is concentrating more on Duo than this war anyway. He's always looking out for the mage, trying to protect him, worrying about him, and forcing himself to think of other things besides the winged mage. That's taking a lot more concentration that he's putting into this war.

Right then and there, the rider suddenly comes to the conclusion that they don't have to wait until after the war to start a relationship. There's nothing wrong with being together during the war. He's seen it all over the place in the Alliance camps. There are many couples within the ranks and it doesn't seem to slow them down. And then there's Trowa and Quatre. Their skills haven't been diminished because of their relationship.

Heero sighs and moves closer to the mage. He raises a hand and lightly brushes the mage's bangs from his eyes, then leans in to place a light kiss on his forehead. Duo shifts in his sleep, a hand coming out to grasp a handful of Heero's shirt. The rider smiles and wraps his arms loosely around the mage. Sleep comes easy to him then.

…

"He what?" Treize exclaims, turning on his most trusted witch.

"He destroyed our creation My Lord," Dorothy repeats. "We have severely underestimated the Fire God."

Khushrenada frowns, deep in thought. He indeed has severely underestimated the Fire God. But what was he going to do about it? It was going to be much harder than the king had thought it would be to kill this boy.

A hawk enters through the window then, interrupting the king's thoughts. He unties the note and reads through it. It describes in full detail the fall of the army Trant had sent to Altron, including the Fire God's attack at the end that wiped out the entire Epyon force with just smoke.

Treize grins, suddenly having a change of plans.

"Dorothy," he snaps.

"Yes, My Lord?"

"I have a new assignment for you, and if you succeed, I'll forgive you of everything that you have failed," the king replies.

"Anything, My Lord. Your wish is my command."

"This Fire God is proving more powerful than I ever imagined. It would be a shame to kill the boy and have all his power go to waste, no?"

"Absolutely, My Lord."

"Bring me the boy. If we have him on our side, we'll surely win."

…

Duo wakes early in the morning. The first thing he's aware of is the rider's strong arms wrapped loosely around his waist. His heart skips a beat and he opens his eyes to see the rider's sleeping face just inches from his own. He smiles, never wanting to move from this spot. But nature calls and he manages to wiggle out of Heero's grip without waking him.

Heero wakes a few moments later, feeling like something was missing. He quickly realizes that he's alone and sits up, looking around. When he doesn't see the mage, he stands up and gives a pat to his sleeping dragon before heading outside to look for him.

As he leaves the barn, he literally runs into Duo.

"Oh, sorry," the mage murmurs, stepping back.

But Heero follows him and, before he can change his mind, he leans forward and kisses the mage. Not like he kissed him before, not a simple brush of the lips, but a real kiss full of passion. His arms wrap around Duo's waist and he pulls the mage into him.

Duo is shocked at first, but then wraps his arms around the rider's neck and pulls him closer. It lasts forever, yet not long enough. Heero pulls away and the two take a moment to catch their breath.

"I thought you said—"

"Forget what I said. It made no sense. I'm not going to think about you less, or worry about you less if we're not together," the rider explains.

Duo smiles and presses another kiss to the rider's lips.

"How is Wing?" Duo asks, releasing Heero.

"I think he's still sleeping," Heero replies.

"If you like I can check him over and see how he's been healing," the mage offers.

"It's only been a day," the rider reminds him.

"So? And if you didn't know, dragons heal a lot quicker than humans do."

Duo takes Heero's hand and pulls him over to where the dragon is sleeping. He kneels down next to the white scaly neck and runs his hands over the scales. Suddenly, the dragon grunts and kicks out with his back feet. But the dragon is still asleep.

"Is he having a nightmare?" Duo asks, raising his eyebrow. "Do dragons even dream?"

"Yeah they do. It probably is just a nightmare," Heero shrugs.

"Well make sure he doesn't move too much. We don't want him to hurt himself."

Wing hisses, then thrashes again, his wings flapping and arms clawing at the hay beneath him.

"Wake him up. He's going to hurt himself," Duo tells the rider.

Heero shakes the dragon's head, then tugs on his ear. Nothing. The dragon thrashes again and his splinted leg hits the wall. Heero curses, then grabs the dragon's water bucket and tosses it onto the dragon's head. The dragon wakes with a start, jumping up, then collapsing back down. He is breathing hard, his eyes wide, but when he sees Heero, he nuzzles into the rider's chest, nearly knocking him over.

"It's okay, buddy. You're okay. I won't let you get hurt anymore," Heero promises the dragon, stroking his head.

Duo continues to work over Wing, checking over the broken bones and trying again to see if he could heal it. No luck healing them, but he did find something interesting.

"He's healing really well, Heero. I knew dragons heal fast, but this is incredible. He should be completely fixed up by the end of this two weeks," Duo informs the rider.

"Really?"

"Totally."

The mage stands and moves next to Heero who was still being nuzzled by the dragon. He reaches out and strokes the dragon's neck.

"Duo? Duo are you in there?" Quatre calls from outside of the stable, sounding frantic. "Duo?"

"What, Quatre?" Duo calls back, jogging out where Quatre is running around outside.

"Oh Goddess," he breathes a huge sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you are safe."

"What are you talking about, Quatre? Why wouldn't he be safe?" the rider demands, instinctively taking a step closer to the mage.

"Trowa!" Quatre calls behind him, and Heavyarms appears with the earth mage. "Tell Dermail I found him!"

Trowa nods and Heavyarms takes off towards the palace.

"Where have you two been? Nobody has seen you since after the meeting yesterday, and then we got the note and assumed—"

"What note?" Heero interrupts.

"Our prisoner received a note. Not from Treize, but from one of his top witches," Quatre explains. "Come with me."

Quatre turns around and runs back towards the palace, Heero and Duo following. When they reach the front doors, Dermail rushes out to meet them.

"Thank Goddess you're alright, my dear boy," Dermail sighs in relief. "I want you to stay in the castle from here on out. And if you do need to leave the premises, you need to have an escort, you hear?"

"Can someone please tell us what is going on?" Heero demands.

"Read this. It was sent from Dorothy Catalonia, Treize's most powerful witch. She was probably the one who created that beast you fought yesterday. She sent this to our prisoner."

Dermail hands over a small scroll and Heero quickly unrolls it. Duo peeks over his shoulder so he can also read it. But Heero reads it out loud anyway.

"We've had a change of plans. Thanks to your information according to the Fire God's power, Lord Treize no longer wants him dead. He wants him on our side. Keep an eye on him until I'm able to deliver him to His Highness."


	23. Chapter 22

**I don't really like this chapter for some reason... I have no idea why, i just dont... :/ Well hopefully you guys like it more than I do.**

* * *

Chapter 22

Heero trails off, then looks up at Dermail. "When was this sent?" he breathes, his voice suddenly gone.

"We received it about an hour and a half ago," the general replies.

The rider looks at Duo to see a shocked look on his face. Duo takes the note from Heero's hands and reads it over himself.

"When is she coming?" Duo asks.

"We don't know," Dermail answers.

"Let's go inside," Heero insists, putting a hand on the small of Duo's back and leading him into the palace.

Trowa, Quatre, and the general follow the two into the palace and into the meeting room where some of the other generals are discussing further plans.

"We can't stay here two weeks," Heero says. "Two weeks is plenty of time for Dorothy to get here and try to capture Duo."

"But we have injured—" one of the other generals protests.

"So? Put them in the carts, on the dragons, on horses. We can't stay here," Heero interrupts.

"I agree," Dermail puts in. "Duo is our number one priority. If Treize gets his hands on Duo's powers, we're all screwed."

"I'd never use my powers against you guys," Duo quickly interrupts.

"You may not have a choice, my boy. Who knows what dirty tricks Khushrenada will use to get you to work with him."

"Alright, so where do we go?" the Taurus general questions.

"Well where do we go then?"

"We don't have to go to our next target, we just need to get away from here, because they know we're here," Heero says. "Where's our next stop? Why don't we head that way and find a place to camp out for a few weeks."

"Our next stop is Aries," the Aquarius general informs them.

Duo immediately snaps out of his shock. "We're going to Aries next?"

"Yes, we are," the general nods.

A smile suddenly spreads across the mage's face. It warms Heero to see that Duo's excitement about going to Aries overpowers his fear over what had just happened. The rider takes the mage's hand and leads him out of the room. They can leave the generals to plan when and where they would be moving. Duo had dealt with enough already.

Nobody follows them, for which Heero is grateful. He leads the mage up the stairs and searches for a free room. When he releases the mage's hand, Duo immediately moves to the fireplace and lights it up. He sits cross legged in front of it and holds his hands out.

Heero walks up behind the mage, then sits down next to him.

"Are you alright?" he asks the fire mage.

"Yeah, I'm okay," the mage replies, rubbing his hands together.

Heero notices that the mage's hands are shaking and he doesn't hesitate to take the mage's shaking hands in his.

"I won't let Treize use my powers against you guys," the mage murmurs. "I won't ever go against you."

"I know that, Duo," Heero replies softly. "But I won't even give him the chance to try. I won't let him take you from me."

Duo smiles, the tattoos on his neck and hands picking up the pace. It catches Heero's attention and he lifts a hand to the mage's neck. The rider's fingers lightly trace down the slithering tattoos. The tattoos speed up the second Heero's fingers come in contact with the black ink.

"What causes them to change pace like that?" Heero asks the mage.

"They usually match my heartbeat…" Duo answers quietly.

The rider smiles and leans in to press his lips lightly to the mage's. He pulls back and looks down at the mage's neck to see his tattoos racing. Duo blushes, making Heero chuckle.

"That could be really entertaining," the rider grins.

The mage blushes even more and covers his neck with his hands, although the tattoos are visible on his hands as well. Heero lays off, sitting back and shifting his attention to the crackling fire.

"Are you sure you're alright?" the rider asks the mage.

"Yeah. You promised me you wont let him take me, right? I trust you," he tells me.

"You should trust me, because I can't let that prick take you from me," Heero swears.

Duo smiles, then hugs the rider tightly. "Good cause I don't want to leave you."

The two spend the rest of the morning drawing maps in the thick carpet and discussing possible attack strategies and schemes to take Epyon. Mostly they just joke around, but some of their suggestions they store away to mention to the generals. Heero's hand migrates to Duo's after only a few minutes and weaves his fingers in between the mage's.

After quite a few hours, Heero stands and stretches. "I'm going to go check on Wing. We kind of just left him in a hurry. I'll be right back, okay?"

"I'll go with you," Duo says, standing.

"You're supposed to stay in the castle," Heero reminds him.

Heero gives him the look, then suddenly wind starts to circulate around them in the small room, causing papers to fly everywhere. Fire surged up in the fireplace, up the chimney.

"I think I can handle a simple walk down to the stable," the mage smirks.

"Alright. Just… stay with me, alright?"

The wind stops immediately and the fire shrinks back down in a heartbeat. "Okay," the mage agrees cheerfully.

Heero laughs, shaking his head in amusement. He holds out his hand and Duo takes it, weaving his fingers between Heero's. The two walk hand in hand out of the room and down to the front of the palace. They don't run into anybody until they get to the stable where Trowa and Quatre are in Heavyarms's stall. Duo tries to pull his hand out of Heero's, but the rider tightens his grip on the mage's hand.

"Duo? You're not supposed to be—" Quatre suddenly cuts himself off, a smile spreading across his face. "I knew it! See, Trowa? I told you they'd end up together."

"And I never doubted you," Trowa rolls his eyes, but has a smile on his face as well. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Duo blushes.

"But seriously, Duo. Shouldn't you be inside?"

"I'm fine, guys. I promise," Duo says. The rider can tell that he's starting to get irritated, so he tugs Duo away from the other two mages and into Wing's stall.

The dragon snorts and grunts when the two enter, lifting his head to nuzzle the two boys. Duo smiles and fondly pulls at the dragon's ears.

"I'm going to check your wounds, okay buddy?" Duo asks the dragon.

The dragon grunts and Duo moves to his neck, then down to his wing, and finally his hind leg. Heero watches Duo work over his dragon as he absentmindedly strokes the dragon's muzzle.

"Sorry we took off on you this morning, Wing," Heero murmurs. "Duo's in trouble. Treize wants to kidnap him so he can have Duo on his side."

The dragon's eyes widen a little and he looks back at the winged mage. He'd help protect him. He could sense that this boy meant a lot to his master, so he wouldn't let anything happen to him.

"Well good news. Wing's neck is nearly healed, and his wing and leg should be healed by tomorrow. Much faster than I thought it would take," Duo informs the rider.

"So he should be able to walk by tomorrow when we move?" Heero asks.

"I guess so. We'll leave the splint on to help support him, and he shouldn't fly at all," Duo says, giving the white dragon a pat.

Footsteps sound in the barn and WuFei peeks his head over the stall door.

"General Dermail said I'd find you here…" WuFei frowns. "And he asked me to pass on his disapproval in you, but I think he's being too restrictive. I know you can protect yourself. But anyway, the reason I'm here is to tell you that we're leaving soon."

"We're moving now?" Duo asks.

"Yes," WuFei nods.

"Is Wing ready to move?"

"He should be… His neck is healed for the most part and shouldn't cause any problems, but it's the wing and leg I'm worried about. The wing isn't healing quite as quickly as the others, so he shouldn't be flying, but I think he'll be okay to walk as long as we leave his splint on. Why don't we try it," Duo smiles. "Can you stand up, Wing?"

The dragon positions his front legs out on front of him, then heaves himself to his feet. He wobbles slightly, his back foot lifted off the ground warily. Heero gives him a pat.

"Good boy. Can you put your foot down?" Heero asks.

The dragon hesitantly sets his foot down on the ground, shifting his weight to be balanced between all of his legs. He winces slightly, but doesn't move to take the weight off.

"Good boy," the rider coos. "Let's go for a walk."

Heero steps forward, snags Duo's hand, then turns around and leads the mage and his dragon out of the barn. Duo laughs and hurries to catch up with the rider. Wing limps eagerly beside the two.

…

"You got everything together, Duo?" the rider calls as he straps their sacks onto Wing's back.

"Mhmm," the mage replies.

"Even your armor?"

"Yes mom," Duo teases, adding his last sack to the rest. "You sure Wing should be carrying all this?"

"He's a ten thousand pound dragon. I think our weight, plus the weight of the sacks, totals only about… three hundred pounds. Even with an injured leg, he should have no trouble carrying us."

"At least Trowa volunteered to take Wing's armor so he wouldn't have to carry that weight," Duo points out.

Heero nods and turns to Duo, leaning in to give him a light kiss. "You ready?"

"Yup. Let's go," he smiles, taking Heero's hand and leading him out of the barn.

Wing follows the two out to where everyone else is finishing packing up. It's only a few more minutes before everyone is ready and the caravan starts moving. Heero and Duo mount Wing and the dragon eagerly follows Nataku and Heavyarms at the end of the caravan. Trowa and WuFei had decided to remain on the ground so Wing wouldn't feel left out.

It takes the caravan about half an hour to reach the river and the water mages help everyone cross. It would be another about four hours to the spot that the generals picked for them to camp. They'd be moving a little bit too far south and would have to back track a little ways, but this way they were farther from Epyon. And actually, pretty close to L5.

Once the caravan reaches the spot on the river that the generals had decided would be a good place, everyone works to set up camp quickly and get watch guards to their stations. Duo volunteered to take first shift, but General Dermail quickly shot that idea down, stating that that would make it all too easy for Dorothy to find him if she were to find the camp. Duo smothers his frustration, then leaves to go find his and Heero's tent. Heero was just finishing unrolling their bed rolls when the mage enters.

"It's so… frustrating!" he nearly shouts, starting to pace just inside the door.

Heero looks up from the bed roll, an eyebrow raised. He didn't have to ask the mage what was frustrating, because Duo's rambling quickly answered the question for him.

"I don't get it! They're all so… hypocritical! One minute, they say that they need my powers in order to win this war, then tell me I need to have a bodyguard so Dorothy doesn't get me, then turn right back around to say that I couldn't fall into Treize's hands because he can't have my powers! Can't they just make up their minds? Either I'm strong enough to protect myself or I'm not. It can't be both. Ugh! Maybe I should just let loose on all their old asses. Show them that I can protect myself," Duo's pacing stops and he suddenly spins to face the rider still seated cross legged on the floor. "Even you do it! You get all over protective with me!"

Heero remained quiet and kept his thoughts and reactions to himself through Duo's whole rant, but when accusations were turned on him, he can't stop the questioning eyebrow raise.

"Don't think you don't," the mage warns him.

"I know I do. But I can't help wanting to protect the person very special to me," the rider smiles, patting the spot next to him.

The mage immediately walks over to him, but instead of sitting on the floor next to the rider, he climbs right into Heero's lap, leaning his head into the crook of his neck. Heero wraps his arms around the mage's waist.

"We're all just worried about you, Duo." When the rider sees the mage about to protest, he quickly continues. "I know we don't need to be, but no risks can be taken with this war. At least, that's probably General Dermail's excuse. But mine is a little different. And a little selfish."

"Oh really? And what might that be?" the mage questions teasingly, looking up at the rider, a smile on his face.

"I don't want you to be taken from me," the rider murmurs, kissing up the mage's neck, but then pulls away, a serious expression replacing the teasing one. "I'll promise to let off if you promise me you'll keep an eye out and be extra careful."

"Deal," the mage grins, sealing the deal with a kiss. "Could you also ask the others to lay off a little too?"

"I'll suggest it, but I doubt they will listen."

Duo huffs, but doesn't complain. Instead, he brings the rider's lips back to his again for a deeper kiss.


	24. Chapter 23

**Sorry I've been so bad about posting regularly. It's not that I've been busy, just forgetful T^T. Hopefully I'll get better about posting everyday, if not more than one chapter everyday. Thanks for your patience. Enjoy :)**

* * *

Chapter 23

A week goes by with no problems. A few riders were sent out to try to recruit more troops and came back with news of another twenty thousand troops from Libra, Aquarius, Peacemillion, and Taurus. And with those troops, they were also sending healers, which meant Duo would have some help with the thousands of soldiers that were injured. Sanq had also contributed to the Alliance. They had had weapons made and were having them sent to Aquarius, then shipped out with Aquarius's troops.

Wing had fully healed and spent all his free time exercising his weak wing and leg. By the end of the week he was zipping around camp without a single problem.

Also, the prisoner which had been brought along hadn't received any news from Epyon. Nobody knew whether or not Dorothy was on her way, or was waiting, or whatever she may be doing. And that had everybody on edge, especially Heero. Duo seemed really calm and relaxed about it though.

It was late, and Heero and Duo decide to turn in for the night, leaving Quatre, Trowa, and WuFei still out by the fire. The two lay down and the rider pulls the mage in close to him, kissing him on the nose.

"I love you," the rider suddenly blurts, then blushes. He had been wanting to say that for a while, but had never worked up the courage to.

The mage smiles, then hugs the rider tightly to him, whispering into his ear, "I love you too."

The rider releases the breath he had been holding and hugs the mage back. The mage pulls up their covers, then closes his eyes, completely comfortable in the rider's arms.

…

It's about two in the morning and the Alliance camp is dead quiet. Every fire is out, and every soldier not on watch is long since asleep. Perfect, Dorothy grins, striding over to where the Fire God's tent is. Her two escorts follow quickly after her.

They hadn't had a problem with the watch guards. They were stationed close together to make it hard for someone to sneak by them, but it hadn't taken Dorothy long to find one that had dozed off. Too simple. She was starting to wonder what was about to pop out at her, because it shouldn't be this easy to infiltrate the Alliance camp and march right up to the Fire God's tent. She hesitates when she sees the huge white dragon curled up next to the tent. But the beast is asleep, snoring slightly. She walks by it and to the front of the tent.

The witch opens the tent flap and her eyes widen slightly. The Fire God is in bed with another man. Very interesting.

"Do you want us to kill the other?" one of the escorts whispers, drawing his knife.

"No. Don't kill him. Just knock him out. If these two are lovers, then the soldier could definitely come in handy if we have trouble convincing the Fire God to join us," Dorothy smirks.

"So you want us to take him too?"

The witch frowns, thinking. "No. Separate them. Leave the soldier, take the Fire God. If we need the soldier, we can always come back to get him."

The escort nods and steps forward. His foot accidentally kicks a scrap of armor, waking the two up.

Heero starts awake, then nearly gasps in surprise, seeing two Epyon soldiers in their tent. He jumps up, grabs his sword, and slashes at the nearest soldier. Duo is also up, but it takes him a moment to fully realize what's going on. By that time, the soldier had already deflected the rider's sword and hit him over the head with the hilt. The rider collapses to the ground, unconscious.

"Heero!" the mage cries, then raises his hands, but nothing happens. He tries again, but again, nothing. It's as if his powers have been blocked by something.

A young woman with long pale blonde hair moves out from behind the tent flap then. Her hand is raised out to Duo. She must be Dorothy, the witch, Duo realizes. And she must be holding back his powers somehow.

"Hello, Fire God," she grins, stepping forward. "Now, if you'll please come with us—"

The mage doesn't even give her a chance to finish her sentence. He bends down to pick up Heero's sword and lunges at the witch. A sudden hit to the back of the head knocks him out immediately, plunging him into darkness.

…

When Heero wakes, he has a hard time trying to figure out why he is on the floor. But when he tries to sit up and his head sears, he suddenly remembers.

"Duo!" he cries and jumps up and out of the tent.

It's still dark out, so it couldn't have been more than a few hours since the mage was taken. Wing suddenly jumps up and drops something in front of him. It's the body of one of the Epyon soldiers.

"Did you get Duo?" Heero asks quickly.

The dragon shakes his head, lowing it apologetically.

"Damn it! Hoe could you not get him?" the rider yells at his steed, but then shakes his head. "Sorry, boy. It's not your fault. Take me to the general's tent."

Suddenly, Trowa, Quatre, and WuFei appear next to him.

"What's going on, Heero?"

"They took Duo. He's gone," Heero tells them, forcing the pain from his voice.

The rider jumps on the dragon's hand and Wing flies them to the general's tent.

"General Dermail!" Heero calls before they even finish landing.

Heavyarms and Nataku land behind him as the general exit's the tent.

"What do you want, boy? It's four in the morning," the general complains.

"Dorothy was here. She took Duo," Heero informs him.

"What?" the general shouts, suddenly wide awake.

"I'm going to go get him," the rider reassures, moving to climb onto his dragon.

"No! You can't go," Quatre cries at the same time Trowa grabs him.

"Why not? I need to get him back!"

"It's pointless, Heero! If Duo was unable to fight back against them, no offense, but you won't survive a second. Then what will that accomplish? Duo will still be in Epyon and the Alliance will have lost one of it's best leaders," Quatre argues.

"The mage is right, my boy," Dermail sighs. "Unfortunately there is nothing any of us can do except pray to the Goddess that Duo will be able to get away from Treize."

Heero frowns. There is no way he is going to just sit here with and do nothing while the man he loves is probably being tortured by Treize and his bitch. He makes up his mind quickly and spins around, punching Trowa square in the jaw. The stunned earth mage releases his hold on the rider and the rider jumps up onto Wing's back.

"Let's go boy," he tells his dragon.

"Wait Wing, listen to me!" Quatre calls. "If you take Heero to Epyon there is a very high probability that he will die."

That catches Wing's attention immediately and the dragon sits, nearly causing the rider to slide off. The rider exhales sharply, then runs his hands through his bangs, trying to discreetly wipe his tears away. Heero jumps off the dragon and heads back to his tent without another word to anyone.

Wing whimpers a little, lowering his head, but the rider ignores him and keeps walking. The light mage walks up to him and pets the dragon's snout.

"It's okay, Wing. You did the right thing. It's better that he be mad then dead. Just give him some time to calm down," the mage whispers.

The dragon stands and follows loyally after his master, his tail tucked and his head hanging in shame. Quatre sighs and turns to Trowa.

"Are you okay?" he murmurs, running his fingers lightly over the bruise already forming on his jaw line.

"I'm fine. I can't say I would react any different though if it was you that was taken from me," the taller mage replies, wrapping his arms around the blonde.

"I know."

When he gets back to his tent, the rider's tears are already flowing freely down his face. He sees the dead body in front of his tent and kicks it hard before turning to his dragon.

"Get rid of it," he snaps before walking into his tent.

The rider plops down onto his bed roll and picks up Duo's pillow. He merely holds it for a moment before hugging it to him and burying his face in it. Then, the rider cries like he's never cried before.

…

The first things Duo is aware of when he wakes are the searing pain in his head and cold metal against the sensitive tissue of his wings folded underneath him. The mage groans and tries to lift a hand to rub his head, but something stops him. He lifts his hand again and recognizes the jangle of chains.

"Shit," he curses, his voice rough.

"Good, you're awake," a horribly familiar voice says from somewhere on his left.

The mage's eyes fly open and he sees the blonde haired witch standing a few feet from him, he frowns and concentrates on blowing her up or something. The witch grins, not moving to stop the mage or anything. Duo suddenly realizes why. His magic, the presence that's always flowed inside him, is gone. He feels so… empty.

"What did you do to me?" the mage demands, struggling against his chains.

"I blocked your magic."

"What?" the mage cries.

"Don't worry. It's not gone. It's just… cut off from you," the witch smirks.

"Bitch," the mage curses.

The amused look on the witch's face suddenly changes into one of hate. She mutters something under her breath and suddenly the mage's entire body explodes in pain. He cries out, writhing against the pain and pulling at his restraints. His body arches as his muscles seize up. When the pain suddenly cuts off, the mage collapses against the metal table, panting.

"Call me that again. I dare you," the witch hisses.

Before Duo can repeat what he said, the witch sends the pain through him again. When she stops, Duo glares at her.

"That was for killing my pet."

"It deserved what it got," Duo shrugs nonchalantly. "Bitch," the mage then adds. He really didn't want to feel that pain again, but seeing the woman's reaction was totally worth it.

The pain is ten times worse the next time and lasts for ten times longer. It probably would've gone on even longer if someone hadn't interrupted her.

"That's enough, Dorothy."

The witch immediately stops and spins around. Duo collapses back onto the table, panting hard and cringing against the pain still vibrating through his body.

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency. I was just… He said… I'm sorry," she bows her head to the tall man that enters the room.

Duo knew immediately, even if the witch hadn't called him 'Your Excellency', that this was Treize. He could just tell by looking at the man. The way he held his head up with a completely arrogant air, and the look of pure evil in his eye.

"I'm Treize Khushrenada, and your name is…?" Treize introduces.

"Bite me," Duo snaps, spitting at the man.

The bronze haired man's expression doesn't waver in the slightest. "Alright then. Well let's get straight to the point, shall we? I have a proposition for you. See… I want to rule this fine world we live in. I'm not content enough to just rule this little city of Epyon. And everything was going just fine until the Alliance formed it's own little army to fight back against me. That's not necessarily the problem though. The problem is that you joined their side. I want you to fight with me against the Alliance."

"You destroyed my home and killed all my people. I'll never join you. I'll kill you once I get the chance," the mage hisses.

"Unfortunately for you, that's not an option. You only have two choices. One is to join me. If you refuse that option, then you've become of no use to me and I can't allow you to go back to the Alliance, which puts us at your second option… death."


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Horrible dreams haunt the rider when he is finally able to fall asleep. He starts awake, shaking, covered in a cold sweat, and when he reaches for the winged mage to help calm him, he remembers the reason for the nightmares.

The whole day is spent curled up on his bed role, clinging tightly to Duo's pillow. He thought many times of trying to sneak off to Epyon to get Duo, but the rider knows it would be pointless. Because of what Quatre told Wing, the dragon wouldn't take him to Epyon, and he wouldn't let the rider leave on his own either. That dragon was dead set on seeing that his master would remain safe, and Heero knew that, which is why he hadn't tried anything yet. But he was waiting for the perfect opportunity. He would get Duo back. Even if it killed him.

After a few hours, the tent flap opens and Quatre peeks in.

"What do you want?" Heero snaps, not looking up.

"I just wanted to tell you we're leaving tomorrow for Epyon," the light mage informs the rider.

Heero sits up immediately. "Really?"

"The generals decided to skip going to Aries and head straight to Epyon. They're surprised that Duo hasn't escaped and come back by now, but they hope that once we reach Epyon, Duo will help us from on the inside."

The rider stands up and quickly starts packing up his stuff.

"Why can't we leave now?" the rider demands.

"Nobody is ready yet. It'll take another day to get everything packed up and ready to go."

Heero holds his comments to himself, knowing that they won't make anyone move faster, and continues to hurriedly pack his stuff.

"I'll bring over Wing's armor for you," the light mage tells the rider, then disappears.

…

"Then I guess you'll just have to kill me," the mage shrugs simply as if he didn't just tell this man to kill him.

"That's too bad… I was really hoping you wouldn't pick that option," Treize frowns, but his tone is joking.

"I'll never go against the Alliance."

"You're not even going to consider it?" Treize raises an eyebrow.

"Nope."

"We'll I guess we'll just have to convince you, then. It would be a shame for you powers to go to waste."

"Well if you let me go, then my powers won't go to waste," the mage points out nonchalantly.

"True, but not what I had in mind," Treize grins. He turns to motion one of his guards into the room. "Turn him over and strap him down so he's on his stomach. Then tilt the table so he's vertical."

The guard nods and starts to undo the straps holding the mage down. Duo moves to punch the guard once the chain is off his wrist, but suddenly he feels numb all over and slumps back onto the table. He sees Dorothy, chanting something under her breath, a grin on her face.

"You know… after so many years of cutting off fingers, and toes, and hands, and feet for information, it gets very… old," Treize informs the mage, faking disappointment. "But with you… this could get very interesting. I've never cut off a wing before."

The mage fights to suppress a gasp, but can't stop his eyes from widening. The table clanks into place, locking in it's vertical position. His shirt is removed before he is securely strapped onto the table. The numbness starts to wear off and Duo begins to struggle, trying to free himself.

"So? Join me and keep your wings, or refuse and lose them. It's your choice," Treize shrugs, drawing his sword.

Duo shakes his head, his eyes pinching closed and preparing himself for the pain to come. They could do whatever they want to him. He'll never go against the Alliance… or Heero…

The mage struggles to make his wings disappear. Somehow he made them rip out of his back when he was a kid, so he knew he could change his appearance. He just needed to figure it out again. And he had a few seconds to do it.

"Very well then," Treize sighs. "It really is a shame. Those are very beautiful wings. Hold them out. Make sure he doesn't move them," he tells his guard.

Rough hands grab his wings and pull them out, stretching them to their full length. Duo jerks against the chains and fights the grip on his wings trying desperately to move them. He sees Treize raise his sword and he closes his eyes again and tries as hard as he can to suck his wings back up into his back.

…

Once Heero is done packing with the exception of his bed roll and the tent, the rider climbs up on his dragon and stares out to the north. He can see the dark storm clouds gathered there, and he knows that's where Duo is.

"I love you, Duo. I'll be there as soon as I can," the rider whispers.

Heero wraps his arms around his stomach and sit down on the dragon's back. Wing snakes his head around and nuzzles his master's knee. Heero smiles, appreciating the support from his scaly friend. He strokes the dragon's snout.

"Sorry I was so mean to you earlier. I know I was upset about Duo, but that was no excuse to treat you like I did. You were just trying to look out for me."

The dragon grunts and Heero hugs his scaly snout. The rider climbs down from the beast's back and shuffles into his tent. He practically falls into bed and pulls Duo's pillow into his arms. The rider closes his eyes and tries to fall asleep. He'd need all his energy tomorrow to get his love back from Khushrenada.

…

The first hint Duo got that his efforts to make his wings disappear didn't work, if the pain wasn't hint enough, was the blood flowing like a waterfall down his back. Another hint was the sudden and drastic weight disappearance on his back. He had become so used to carrying those wings on his back, even if they weren't all that heavy, that now that they were gone, he felt so front heavy. Even though he wasn't even standing, but strapped to a table. But the pain is the number one factor that tells him he failed to make his wings disappear.

The mage cries out in agony. He squirms and writes against his chains. The pain was ten times worse than the pain Dorothy had caused him after he had teased her. The mage tries hard to heal his own wounds, but he knows the effort is a wasted one, just as his attempts to pull his wings back into his body was. His magic was blocked.

Once the mage manages to get control of his cries, he grinds his teeth to keep from whimpering. His whole body is shaking and a cold sweat is rolling down his forehead. His whole body is weak and the only thing keeping him from collapsing are the chains secured around his wrist and ankles.

"Dorothy," Treize snaps, but it's barely picked up by Duo. It's all fuzzy and sounds so far away. "Let him bleed for a while. Make sure he doesn't bleed out though. When you think he's bled enough, heal his wounds for him then take him to a cell so he can reconsider his decision."

"Yes, Your Highness," the witch bows.

Khushrenada turns and leaves, his cape flowing gracefully out behind him. Dorothy turns to the mage and snickers, enjoying seeing him writhe in pain, seeing blood poor down his back, seeing the jagged remains of his wings poking out of his back.

Duo forces himself to take deep breaths and calm down. He works on slowing his heart rate. The faster his heart pumps, the more blood would be lost. He didn't know when Dorothy would decide to close his wounds, but he had to slow the blood loss as best as he could.

It doesn't take long for Duo to get dizzy and start to feel faint. His head is pounding and his back is still searing with the pain. He tries to flex those muscles that used to connect up to his wings, but nothing responds. Just as the mage is about to black out, he feels Dorothy's cold hands run over the jagged stubs that are all that remain of his wings. They disappear and Duo's wounds are closed. But they're only closed. The pain doesn't leave him.

The chains are undone and Duo nearly collapses. The guard puts an arm around the mage's waist and roughly draws the mage's arm up over his shoulders. The guard, followed by Dorothy, drags the mage towards the door and into a long hallway. Down at the end of the hallway, a row of cells appear and Duo is thrown into the first one.

Duo collapses to the ground and he simply lies there for a moment as the door slides closed with a clank. Duo lifts himself up onto his knees and holds his arms out to try and balance himself. He fails, falling forward onto his hands and knees. He rolls his shoulder and grimaces in pain. He tries to get the wings to grow back, but of course he is unable to.

The mage's mind wanders to Heero. He hopes that the rider won't do anything stupid to try and get him back. He doesn't want to get out of here to find that the rider got himself killed.

Thinking about Heero brings tears to the mage's eyes and he curls up on the floor and wraps his arms around himself, desperately wishing it could be the rider's arms around him.

"I love you, Heero. I'll be home soon."

…

When the mage wakes the next morning, he's insanely sore. He rolls onto his back and it feels so weird since his wings aren't under him. He rolls back over and lifts himself to his hands and knees. Slowly rising to his feet, he tries to figure out his balance. He stretches, and automatically the muscles in his back move to stretch his wings. The mage nearly falls over, bracing himself against the wall. He shuffles his way over to the barred window and looks up at the sky. The sky is dark, gloomy. Angry storm clouds stretch out as far as he can see. Lightning flashes on the other side of those clouds.

Suddenly, the mage realizes that he's not alone. He turns around to see Treize standing on the other side of the bars, Dorothy and a guard behind him.

"Have you reconsidered your decision?" he asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah and," the mage fakes a surprised laugh, "surprisingly, I haven't changed my mind."

"That really is a shame. It's horrible that a power as great as yours will have to go to waste. Guard? Kill him," Treize orders, then turns to leave.

Dorothy looks over Duo like she's making a hard decision, then turns towards Treize.

"Wait! We can still get him to join us," Dorothy calls after him.

Treize stops, then turns back around. "You think so? Do explain."

"When I went to go pick him up… he was… he… he was in bed with another man," Dorothy admits.

"Oh really?" Treize's eyes widen and he looks completely fascinated. He turns his attention to the mage. "You have a lover?"

Duo glares, not saying a word.

"I'll take that as a yes. Who is this man?" Treize asks, grinning at the mage.

Duo keeps his mouth shut. He couldn't let them get to Heero. They'd use him to get Duo to cooperate, then kill him. There is no way the rider would get out of this alive if Treize got his hands on him.

"Do you know who it was?" Treize asks Dorothy.

"No. He was just a soldier. But I remember what he looks like. I'll be able to find him."

"Good. Find him and bring him back here."

"No!" Duo cries, running to the bars. "You leave him alone! I swear to god if you even harm one hair on his head, I'll beat you so hard you won't even be able to roll over in the morning!"

Treize just chuckles, then turns to Dorothy. "Bring this soldier to me."


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Early the next morning Heero is up and moving, hurriedly getting everything together and ready to go. Quatre also rises early to make sure Heero was still here and hadn't left already.

"You alright, Heero?" the light mage asks.

"I will be once we get Duo back. How long will it take to get to Epyon?"

"A while. About nine hours?" the mage replies.

"Nine hours?"

"Sorry, but it's much slower following a caravan then going straight by dragon."

Heero exhales and Quatre leaves to go get his stuff all put together. About half an hour later, the troops are just about ready to leave. After packing up his tent, Heero heads into the woods to go relieve himself before they all leave.

Just as he's heading back out to the camp, there is a popping sound from right behind him and a hand clamps over his mouth.

"Shhh. Don't make a sound," a woman hisses at him. The voice is strangely familiar.

The rider easily pulls from the woman's hand and draws his sword to see Dorothy standing there. He straightens.

"What are you doing here, witch," the rider demands.

"His Highness has asked me to bring you to him. I'm taking you to Epyon."

The rider's sword lowers a little more. "Is that where Duo is?"

"Is that his name?" the witch questions.

Heero curses at himself for giving that away. It might not have been the worst thing he could've given away, but Duo had obviously kept that from them for a reason.

"Is he in Epyon?" the rider changes the subject.

The witch nods and holds out a hand. "His Excellency Treize wants to talk to you. Will you come quietly?"

The rider thinks for a moment, looking back towards the camp. He feels that this is a really bad decision, but his need to be with Duo, to save him, is stronger than his sense of logic. The rider nods and takes the witch's outstretched hand.

…

Treize is sitting in his throne, looking over a map, when there is a pop and Dorothy appears in front of him with a handsome looking soldier. Treize raises his eyebrows in amusement as he steps down and approaches the two.

"My my… you are a fine looking young man. No wonder the Fire God was interested in you," the king teases.

The soldier just glares back at him. "Where is he?"

"He's in the dungeon. Allow me to escort you to him."

The rider follows Khushrenada down the hall and down a flight of stares into a stone corridor. His heart rate starts to accelerate the further down the corridor they get. Suddenly, Treize grabs him as a guard unlocks a door, then the Epyon king throws the rider inside.

"Heero?" Duo's voice asks and Heero looks up to see Duo sitting there in the middle of the cell.

"I'll leave you two alone," Treize says with a smirk, then leaves, the guard and Dorothy following right behind him.

Duo hurries over to the rider and wraps his arms tightly around his neck.

"Why haven't you broken yourself out of here yet, Duo?" the rider asks him. "Why are you still here?"

"Dorothy blocked my powers. I'm useless," the mage breathes into the rider's neck. He was so happy to have Heero back in his arms, but he would've preferred that the rider not be here.

That's when Heero realizes that Duo's tattoos are no longer moving. It must've been his magic in control of making them slither and snake all up his body. But Heero also notices something else different about the mage.

"Duo? W-Where are your wings?" the rider suddenly asks.

"They're trying to get me to join them. Treize cut them off by way of torture, I guess."

The rider pulls back from the mage, a horrified expression on his face. Heero opens his mouth to speak, but Duo can guess what he's about to ask, so he puts a finger over the rider's lips.

"I'm fine," he reassures the rider.

The rider sighs, then pulls the mage in for a deep kiss. When he pulls back, he asks the mage, "So how are we going to get out of here? Dermail and the army are—"

Duo quickly slaps a hand over Heero's mouth. "Shhh. They're probably still listening."

"Right… sorry," the rider quickly apologizes.

The two are silent for a while, then the mage hugs himself back to the rider. "They didn't hurt you when they captured you, did they? Cause if they did, then they're all screwed when I get my powers back."

"No, I went with her willingly."

The mage pulls quickly away from the rider. "You what?"

"I had to find you, Duo. I had to make sure you were okay."

"And now we're both stuck here! They're going to kill you, Heero," Duo states, his eyes watering. "As soon as they don't get what they want from me, or they do get it, either way, you're dead!"

"We'll get out of here. Trust me," the rider breathes.

"I do, Heero. I trust you with my life."

…

"Heero?" the light mage calls, heading over to where Wing was napping beside a half folded tent.

The dragon wakes when he hears his rider's name being called. The familiar blonde mage walks up to him and pets his nose.

"Have you seen Heero, buddy?" the mage asks him.

The dragon shakes his head, then looks around. His master was just here a second ago. The white dragon doesn't see his rider and starts to panic, jumping to his feet. He lets out a call, but there is no response. The dragon flaps his wings, taking off and circling the whole camp and the surrounding woods. There is no sign of the rider anywhere. Fear grips the dragon and he looks off towards the north where the dark clouds are gathered. That's where his master probably went. That's where the braided mage was. The dragon huffs and takes off towards Epyon.

"Trowa!" the light mage calls to his lover, who is seated on his dragon. "Stop him!"

The earth mage looks to where the other mage is pointing to see Heero's dragon heading towards Epyon.

"Stop him, Heavyarms," the mage tells his steed, and the red dragon takes off in a hurry.

Heavyarms is bigger than the young dragon, his wingspan longer and his muscles more matured. He catches up to the white dragon easily and zips around in front of him. Wing doesn't stop, simply tilting his wings up and soaring up over the top of Heavyarms and his rider, making both of them duck. The red dragon reaches up and grabs the white dragon's hind leg in his teeth as he passes over.

When Wing feel's teeth on his back leg, he squeals and fights desperately against the older dragon to get free. He needs to go save his rider and the winged mage. He has to. And even though Heavyarms and his tall rider are both close friends of the white dragon, Wing puts the life of his master over the safety of these two. He would attack them if he had to. He barks a warning call at the older dragon, telling him that if he didn't let go, he'd be attacked. But the red dragon doesn't let up, the look in his eyes daring the younger dragon to attack him.

Heavyarms sees the frantic look in the white dragon's eyes and his aggressive posture. When he barks a warning at him, he knows that the younger dragon is going to attack. Suddenly, his gears change from restraining the white dragon to protecting his master who is still seated on his back. He'd also obey his master's orders to keep the white dragon here, but if he attacked, he'd put his rider's safety over that of the white dragon's life.

Just as Wing moves in to attack, something slams into him, causing him to fall to the ground. It's Nataku. She stands and moves in between the two dragons. Wing growls at the red dragon on the other side of her and she snaps and hisses at the white dragon. When Heavyarms returns the snarl, Nataku snaps at him too. The two dragons look at each other, at a loss of what to do. Although the green dragon is much smaller than the two males, neither of them think it a good idea to mess with her. She snorts and walks back to her master's side, who is standing there with his arms crossed. By then, Quatre has caught up to the group, panting.

"What's going on here?" WuFei asks.

"I was wondering the same thing," Trowa puts in. "I have a hard time believing that Wing is going to rescue Duo on his own. Where is Heero?"

"Heero is gone. They must've gotten him," Quatre explains.

"Or he ran off after Duo," Trowa counters, never having trusted Heero to stay here after Duo was taken.

Quatre gives Trowa a disapproving look. "Heero knows that heading off to Epyon alone would only get him killed and do nothing to save Duo. But, I don't doubt that when confronted by either Dorothy or a soldier, he would've gone willingly. His only problem going alone is that he'd never make it to the castle without getting killed. If he was escorted in by a soldier or Dorothy though…"

"So what do we do now? Wing's number one priority is going to be getting his rider back at whatever risk to himself, but we can't let him just soar right into Epyon. It'll blow our entire operation," WuFei points out. "We'll have to restrain him."

Wing snarls and back away from the group, ears laid flat and teeth bared.

"I remember seeing a solider with his dragon tied down so he wouldn't wander. I'll see if I can get him to let us borrow the restraint," WuFei suggests, mounting his dragon.

Trowa nods. Wing hisses and lunges at the fire mage. Nataku isn't about to let the young male anywhere near her rider though and shakes her rider off before meeting the white dragon head on, teeth and claws clashing. WuFei manages to land on his feet and looks up just in time to see his smaller dragon get forced back by the larger, stronger white dragon. But she holds her ground, hind claws digging into the dirt to gain stability. Trowa jumps off Heavyarms just as he lunges in to restrain the white dragon. His teeth sink into the back of the white dragon's neck, just behind his head. He grabs the younger dragon's wings in his hands to keep him from trying to get away. His heavier weight forces the white dragon to the ground. Nataku backs away from the two, then grabs WuFei and takes off to where the soldier's young, wandering dragon was chained to a tree.

WuFei quickly explains the situation and the soldier eagerly agrees to help. He unchains the chain from around a tree and unlocks the metal cuff from around his dragon's neck. Nataku picks up the heavy chains and hurries back to where Heavyarms is fighting to keep the struggling white dragon to the ground. She snaps the cuff in place around his neck and WuFei secures the chain to the nearest tree. He's unsure of whether or not the young dragon is strong enough to uproot the tree, but even if he is, it's too much weight for him to carry while in flight. He'll be grounded even if he manages to pull up the huge tree.

Heavyarms backs up off the white dragon and Wing immediately lashes out, but is brought short by the cuff around his neck. He thrashes and pulls, even takes off, trying to get free. The chain digs into the tree bark, but the large tree doesn't even budge.

"That's going to be our big weapon in this upcoming war. There is nothing more unstoppable or vicious than a dragon parted from his rider," WuFei says, pointing to the white dragon struggling against his chain. "The problem is keeping him in line on the way to Epyon, but once we get there, he'll do the most damage and clear a nice path for us all the way up to the castle."

"We have to make sure that he doesn't get killed though. Heero would be devastated if we let his dragon get killed," Quatre reminds him.

The three look over to see Wing give up and collapse to the ground. The dragon pulls in a deep breath, then lets it out, tucking his head into his paws. Wing turns his head away from the others so that they won't see the tears rolling down his scaly cheeks.


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The door suddenly opens and someone grabs the rider by the back of his tunic and pulls him out of the cell. Duo hurries after, but the door is slammed in his face. Heero pulls out of the guards grasp and clings to the bars of Duo's cell.

"I don't care what the hell they do to me or threaten to do to me, whatever you do, don't agree to help them, okay? Forget about me. I'm not worth it. The rest of the world is more important that just me," the rider tells the mage quickly as the hand reappears at the back of his tunic. "Understand?"

Duo stutters, not sure he can accept that. The rider reaches through the bars and cups the mage's cheek. The mage leans into his touch.

"I love you, Duo, but you need to think about what is best for the world, and not about me, okay?"

"I…"

"Promise me," the rider urges.

"O-Okay," the mage stutters.

The rider takes Duo's hand from the bars and places a kiss on his palm. "I love you," he murmurs before he's pulled away from the mage and dragged all the way down to the far end of the corridor and thrown into the last cell, as far away from Duo as possible.

The door slams shut behind the rider and the rider sits down against the wall, head hanging. After a few minutes, he hears the guard walk out of the corridor, leaving them alone.

Duo raises his hand to place a kiss over the top of the one the rider had left there, then closes his hand into a fist. That very well could be the last kiss he'd ever receive from the rider. He wanted to hold onto it as long as possible. He slides his back down the wall and draws his knees up to his chest. The guard saunters past his cell and continues on, leaving the corridor and heading up stairs.

"Heero?" the mage calls once the guard is out of hearing range. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," the rider responds from much too far away.

"I'm sorry," the mage sniffles, thinking back on how this was all his fault. There were a lot of things he could've done different that would've kept Heero out of danger. He should've listened to Dermail when he voiced his concerns, he should've taken them more seriously, he should've tried harder to fight against Dorothy, he should've done more to protect Heero, he should've never agreed to fight in this war… he should've never even come out of that stone.

Yes, that would've meant never getting to know Heero, never getting close to him, never having him hold the mage, or hug him, or kiss him… but if it would've kept Heero out of this danger, he would've gladly stayed in that rock to protect him.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. This isn't your fault," is the rider's reply.

"Yes it is," the mage murmurs so that the rider won't hear.

It's silent for a while, tears threatening to spill from the mage's eyes, when Heero says, "I don't regret anything, Duo. I wouldn't change anything. I'm glad everything has happened the way it has. If anything, I'd change the fact that I let Dorothy capture you, but we'll be safe soon. We'll figure a way out of here. I love you." The last part was almost too quite for Duo to here, but it does make him smile. It seems Heero's optimism is contagious. Duo looks down at his still fisted hand, holding Heero's kiss inside, then opens his hand, letting it go. He had to have faith that that wouldn't be Heero's last kiss to him. He had to have hope that Heero was right, that they'd be okay.

…

"It's time to go," Dermail announces to the three boys. "What's the deal with Yuy's dragon? Have you figured out how to control him?"

"Not really," Trowa shrugs.

"Could Heavyarms hold his chain?" WuFei asks.

"He'd probably be able to. If that doesn't work we could chain them together," Trowa suggests.

"That could work… Or—"

"Guys!" Quatre interrupts. "What if we just talk to him?"

Without waiting for a response, Quatre turns and walks over to where the white dragon is still chained to the tree.

"Wing?" Quatre asks tentatively, stepping closer.

The dragon snarls, his head still tucked under his wing. Quatre steps closer and the snarling gets louder. The mage stops.

"Wing? We're going to Epyon now," the light mage tells him. The dragon immediately looks up at the him. "We're going to go find Heero and Duo now. Will you behave if we untie you? If you take off on your own to go get Heero, you won't succeed and Heero might die. You have to listen to us okay? But once we get to Epyon, you can go find Heero."

The dragon nods and Quatre reaches out to pet the white, scaly muzzle. Then the light mage turns his attention to the other two mages staring at them.

"See? That wasn't so bad. Now untie him," Quatre demands of WuFei.

WuFei nods and steps forward. Wing lays back his ears and snarls at the fire mage. He doesn't like him very much. He and the tall one were the ones that chained him to the tree. The blonde one is nice though. Wing really likes him. He's kind to Wing and treats him well.

Quatre takes the key from WuFei and unlocks the cuff around his neck. It falls to the ground with a clank and Wing stretches out his neck. He flashes his wings and lets out a loud roar that is echoed throughout camp by thousands of other dragons. Wing is ready to go find his master and take revenge on all those who hurt him.

…

The caravan travels fast, the foot soldiers all getting rides on the horses or dragons to help speed things up. It'll take a few hours off, but they'll still get there in the late afternoon. Quatre had decided to ride Wing, thinking Wing would like some company to help take his mind off of Heero's absence. The dragon didn't mind the light mage riding with him at all.

Wing fights against the urge to just take off towards Epyon. He is forced to fly at the horse's pace and it's driving him insane. Why couldn't they just run a little faster? He needed to get to Epyon to find his master. The later they got there, the higher the probability that he'd be dead.

Wing didn't even realize that he had started flying faster until the light mage lightly strokes his neck.

"Don't worry, Wing. Heero will be okay. He's a tough guy, he can take care of himself," the mage reassures the dragon.

Wing forces himself to slow down, falling back in formation with the other dragons. The mage was right. His master had a strong will and a strong heart. He'd be able to stand whatever those evil Epyon people threw at him. Both him and the winged mage.

Wing realized then that he cared as much for the braided boy as he did his rider, that as much as he wanted to go save his master, he wanted to save the winged mage as well. Was it just because of his rider's attraction to the winged boy? Or was it that he too just cared for boy. He didn't know, and he didn't care. All he knew is that if either of them were hurt, there would be hell to pay.

…

It was about an hour or two until sundown and the group was finally reaching Epyon territory. The great castle came into view and Wing growled, a low sound that rumbled through his whole body. He started to fly faster.

"Wait a minute, Wing," the light mage tells him, petting his neck. "Wait until we get closer, then let me jump onto Heavyarms. Then you can go find Heero, okay?"

The dragon nods, a sharp movement of his head, but doesn't slow to fall back with the others.

After a few more minutes Wing can't wait anymore, he flies up over the top of Heavyarms and the light mage drops down into Trowa's waiting arms. Once Wing is sure the mage is safely on the red dragon, he takes off, followed closely by the rest of the dragon pack. It takes them just minutes after they get up to full speed to reach the wall. Wing lets out a loud roar, echoing off of every surface, then makes a beeline straight for the castle.

…

A loud roar echoes through the castle and Treize looks up sharply.

"What was that?" he demanded, looking at Trant for an explanation.

"I, uh… I don't know, sir," he replies.

"Well why don't you go check," Treize demands of him.

"Right, of course, sir," he nods and hurries out of the room to the hallway. It's an open hallway, just pillars in the way of a wall on the outside, so one could see the entire kingdom from there. He looks out over Epyon, and in the distance, he can see a huge swarm of dragon rider, followed by an army of mounted soldiers. It was the Alliance. They were here.

"It's the Alliance Army, sir!" Trant calls, hurrying back into the room.

"The Alliance is here?" Treize shouts, standing.

Dorothy looks between Treize and Trant, then out towards the open hallway.

"Yes, sir," Trant nods. "Orders?"

"Get the army together and stop them," Treize demands, then stalks off towards the dungeons. He motions for Dorothy to follow him. He needs the Fire God to join him, and now. And he'd do just about anything to get him to join him.

…

The loud roar reaches Heero's ears through the open window above his head and he starts, standing and looking out the window. Even though he can't see anything, he knows for a fact that it was Wing's call.

"Duo! It's Wing! They're here!" Heero calls. "Told you we'd get out of here."

"You sure that's Wing? Epyon has dragons too. Lots of them," Duo points out.

"I'm positive. I'd know his call anywhere."

Footsteps sound in the corridor and Heero turns his attention to the hallway. The footsteps are hurried and there are multiple sets of them.

Duo hears the footsteps too and moves away from the window. Treize and Dorothy approach quickly. Treize is angry, furious. He passes right by Duo's cell though and keeps walking, all the way down to the end.

Treize appears at the door of the rider's cell and he quickly opens it. He marches in and grabs the rider by the back of the tunic and drags him out of the cell. Heero can tell that he is angry, and desperate. What he's about to do though, the rider has no idea.

Treize drags him down the corridor and stops in front of Duo's cell. Duo hurries to the bars. Treize forces the rider down onto his knees, then draws his sword.

"This is your last chance, Fire God!" the king shouts, moving his blade to the rider's neck. "Join me or you get to watch your lover slowly bleed to death!"

"Don't do it, Duo!" Heero tells the mage. "Don't do it. I'm not worth it. Don't listen to him!"

"Shut up!" Treize yells at the rider, shaking him. "You have ten seconds, boy."

"I… I can't…" Duo stutters, tears coming to his eyes as he frantically tries to make a decision. Heero's life? Or the life of the rest of the word? It's too hard a decision to make. He can't make it…

"Five! Four! Three!"

"No! Wait, just… Just give me a second!" the mage begs.

"Too late," the king hisses, pressing his blade into the rider's neck.

* * *

**Cliff hangerrrrrrr... Sorry about that, but I couldn't resist ^-^ I don't think I'll get the next chapter up today, but definitely tomorrow.**


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"No!" Duo cries, reaching through the bars towards the rider.

Suddenly, the mage's eyes glaze over and his arm falls limp. Treize hesitates, but when the mage's tattoos start to move again, the rider knows what's about to happen. Duo looks back up, his face stoic, his eyes glowing red. Then the mage hunches over and whimpers in pain as two wings suddenly rip through his back. The wings stretch up high, then fold gracefully onto his back as the mage stands. He reaches out to open the door, but the lock keeps it from opening. He removes his hand and looks down at the lock. It explodes and the door flies open.

Heero looks up and grins at Treize's shocked look. When Duo's gaze shifts up to Treize, Treize drops his sword and bolts. Heero picks up the sword and stands quickly. Duo's stoic mask breaks for a second to smile at the rider, but then it's back immediately. The mage reaches out and the second his fingers come in contact with the almost too deep cut on Heero's throat, the cut vanishes.

The mage turns and strides quickly, nearly floating, down the hallway after Treize, Heero racing to keep up with him. Just as the two reach the main foyer, the doors explode open, wood shrapnel spraying everywhere and the heavy doors sliding into the room as if there were mere sheets of paper. The cause of that mess then strides quickly and angrily into the room. Wing. He takes out the five guards near him with one sweep of his claw, then lets out a roar that echoes through the entire castle. Duo keeps striding forward as if nothing has happened.

"Wing!" Heero cries and the dragon's head snaps in the direction of the voice.

When the dragon sees the rider, he chirps in joy and bounds over to the rider, knocking him over as he shoves his head into the riders open arms. The rider quickly shoves the dragons head away and stands. He sees his sword secured to the dragon's saddle and quickly grabs it, tossing Treize's sword away before strapping his around his waist. He mounts the dragon, then turns to where Duo is hurrying away.

Just then the back wall explodes out and a huge black dragon appears behind it. Astride the great beast, is none other than Treize.

Duo stops walking and turns to face Treize and his pet. Wing turns to also face the dragon, and that is when Heero notices something isn't right with the dragon. Treize has a bridle on her. Dragons aren't ridden with bridles. And blood is trickling out of her mouth. When she opens her mouth to roar at Wing, Heero sees the cause. Her bit has spikes in it. If Treize pulled the reins, it would cause those spikes to press into her tongue. This dragon and rider weren't bonded. There was no connection between them, nothing like what he and Wing had, or Trowa and Heavyarms, or WuFei and Nataku, or any other rider and dragon. This dragon was broken, ruined. She'd never be the sweet loving dragon she probably used to be until she found her human and bonded. Or maybe she had been bonded with someone, but had been stolen away from her rider. Whatever the case, this dragon was going to release all her pent up anger and hatred of the human race on Heero and Duo.

Wing roars back at the black dragon, then shakes, telling his master to get off. Heero dismounts and gives his dragon a reassuring pat before hurrying to Duo's side. Duo is staring at the dragon, a confused look on his face. His stoic, power crazy state slowly dissolves and he comes back to his normal self. He wobbles and Heero catches him easily.

"Something is weird about his dragon…" he murmurs.

Treize dismounts, leaving his dragon to handle Wing.

"She's broken. They aren't bonded. He ruined her," Heero explains.

"Her? How can you tell it's a her?" the mage asks.

"By the angle of her back, the height of her withers, the curve of her snout, and the softness in her eyes. She's definitely a female," the rider observes.

"I feel… that I know her. I've seen her before…"

There is no more time for conversation as Treize steps up to them, weighing his sword carefully in his hands. Duo raises his hands and Heero his sword. The dragons hiss and size each other up, then attack. That's when Treize makes his attack.

…

"Take out the dragon slayers!" Dermail shouts to his soldiers. "Take them out before they can take us out!"

Trowa turns Heavyarms in the direction of the nearest dragon slayer. He dives down and mauls through it. It shatters into millions of wooden shards, spraying everywhere.

"Good boy!" Trowa calls. "Now we need to—"

Trowa is cut off by the sound of Heavyarms squealing beneath him and pitching. Quatre, who had been standing behind Trowa, stumbles, nearly falling from the dragon. Trowa catches him and pulls him in.

"What happened?" Quatre demanded.

Trowa looks down to see a dragon spear lodged firmly in Heavyarms's chest.

"Heavyarms!" Trowa cries.

The dragon struggles to fly as far away from the battle as possible. He makes it to the wall before he can't go any farther. He starts to fall, unable to keep himself up in the air anymore. The dragon rolls, so that he's falling back first. He grabs Trowa and Quatre and tucks the two carefully into his chest so that they won't be hurt by the impact. The red dragon spreads his wings to help lessen the impact, but then he hits the ground.

"Heavyarms!" Trowa cries again, wiggling from the dragon's grasp.

He lands clumsily on his feet, then hurries to the dragon's side where the spear is protruding from his thick red scales. The dragon huffs and pants, pain searing up his whole body. The dragon lifts his head and takes the arrow shaft in his mouth, then rips it out of his side, tossing it away.

WuFei sees a dragon slayer load up an arrow and aim in at Heavyarms, but it's too late for him to stop it, or call out a warning to the earth mage and his steed. The arrow launches through the air and embeds itself fully into the red dragon.

"Take them out, Nataku! Take the dragon slayers out so that no other good dragons are harmed by them!" WuFei calls to his steed.

The small green dragon roars, then dives down, taking out slayer after slayer. Dragon arrows are launched at her, but she easily avoids them, her small limber body twisting this way and that. The small dragon lets out a stream of fire all across the swarm of Epyon soldiers. But more and more come. WuFei looks up and sees masses of Epyon soldiers continue to appear from seemingly nowhere. Where ever Duo and Heero may be, WuFei desperately hopes they are alive and are near to defeating Treize, because the Alliance army won't be able to hold the Epyon army off for much longer.

…

Heero deflects the king's sword and Duo attacks with his magic. It is deflected by some other force though, some other magic.

Dorothy steps up behind Treize, a spell book in her hands.

"Duo. Take care of the bitch. I'll deal with Treize," Heero murmurs.

"You can't take him by yourself," the mage argues.

"I know. So take care of her quickly so you can come back and help me," the rider tells him.

The mage nods and moves off to face Dorothy. Heero remains where he is, holding his sword out in front of him. Treize lunges. Heero raises his sword and deflects it, then makes his own attack. It's easily deflected by the king.

Duo doesn't wait for Dorothy to make the first move. He unleashes everything he has on her. Lightning, fire magic, anything he can think of. She struggles to deflect it, muttering chant after chant. When she manages to make attacks of her own, Duo avoids them easily. She soon becomes overwhelmed by Duo's power.

Wing clashes with the larger female. But she is weak from years of being restrained, chained up, beaten, and broken. The white dragon almost feels bad for her. But this creature isn't even hardly a dragon anymore. There is no life in her eyes. She only obeys the Epyon king for fear of being tortured by him. Her black scales are scared and chipped and broken. Scars lie underneath even her tough scales, on the sensitive and thin skin beneath. Blood seeps from her mouth where the spiked bit has punctured her tongue. But she fights with all she has in her, afraid of what the Epyon king will do to her if she fails.

Wing fights back, knowing that if he loses, that she'll go after Heero and Duo. And he can't let that happen. He pushes her back and lashes out with his teeth. Her claws come in contact with his head, deflecting his blow. She snaps back at him, catching his neck in her teeth. Wing squeals and rips her off of him.

Duo unleashes blow after blow. Finally, with a strong upwards gust of wind magic, the book flies from her grasp. She is completely defenseless now. Duo almost feels bad for her. He doesn't want to take her life, but he knows he can't let her live. Her loyalty to Treize is too strong. He tries to think of the most humane way of killing her and decides it needs to be something quick.

"I'm sorry," he finds himself murmuring, then uses his magic to break her neck. She crumples to the floor, dead before she hits the ground.

Duo turns his attention back to where Treize and his lover are dueling it out. He feels that, even though Treize only uses a sword, he'll be much harder than Dorothy to defeat.

…

"Heavyarms… stay with me, Heavyarms," the earth mage pleads with his dragon.

The dragon's breathing comes slow and uneven, struggling to get air into his lungs. Quatre kneels by the red dragon's head and calmly strokes the dragon's snout, tears streaming down his cheeks. Even though he wasn't bonded with the dragon, he felt as if he was. He felt very close to him. To see him hurt and in pain the way he was, broke the light mage's heart.

"It'll be okay, boy. You'll be okay," Quatre murmurs.

Trowa is busy at work putting whatever sort of compress he can on the wound to stop it from bleeding. Quatre joins him and it's not too much later that Nataku lands beside the three and WuFei quickly jumps off.

"Is he alright? We saw him get taken down…" WuFei asks, removing his own shirt to help add to the compress.

Neither of the two answer the question. They all know the most likely answer to it, but no one has the courage to say it. Instead, they continue to work on stopping the bleeding.

…

The three just stand there, everyone waiting for the other to make the first move. In the background the two large dragons continue to battle it out, both receiving many wounds, but none too serious.

Heero weighs his sword in his hand and continues to glare at the Epyon king. Seeing that no one is about to make a move, Heero quickly makes up his mind.

"I love you," he murmurs to the mage next to him, then charges forward.

Their swords clash and Duo adds his magic to the mix. Treize easily avoid everything, even managing to throw in some attacks of his own. Heero's near mastered swordsmanship is put to the test, even though Treize is only half fighting him, while also dealing with Duo's magic.

Suddenly, Duo stops short when he hears the black dragon squeal in pain behind him. Distant memories flash behind his eyes and everything swarms back to him. He suddenly remembers why that black dragon seems so familiar to him. He spins around to look at her.

"Shini!"


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The black dragon's head spins around in the direction of that voice. She knows that voice. She's heard it before. When she sees the winged boy in front of her, she instantly remembers. This was her rider. The one she was taken from when she was still a hatchling.

"Shini, get him!" Duo commands, pointing to where Treize was starting to overpower Heero.

She looks only too pleased to obey those orders and she snarls, lunging forward. Treize tries to avoid her, but she's too quick for him. He swings his sword around at her, but she avoids it. She gets his leg in her mouth and bounds towards the door. He turns and plunges the sword into her muzzle and she screeches in pain and drops him. He manages to land on his feet and runs at the two boys. Heero manages to get his sword up and block the attack for the most part, but the sword tip catches him in the side as Treize continues by.

Duo hits him with a blast of wind, sending Treize sliding backwards. Before Treize can recover, Heero lunges forward and swings the sword at him. It slashes into the Epyon ruler's chest, but not deep enough to stop him. But then Shini is there and grabs the king. He tries to stab her again, but she bats the sword from his hand and it goes skidding across the floor. He pulls a knife from his belt and stabs her, but this time she holds on. She turns and runs out the door, the Epyon king still struggling. She returns just a minute later without Treize and hurries over to her long lost master.

Heero remains kneeled on one knee, a hand clamped firmly over the large gash in his upper side. The rider didn't think it was too bad, and he didn't want to interrupt the mage's reunion with his dragon, so he kept his mouth shut.

The mage hugs the dragon's snout, tears prickling in his eyes. "I thought you were dead, Shini," he murmurs.

The dragon pulls back and closed her eyes. Their minds connect and Shini plays back her memories from that day. She shows the mage that Dekim didn't kill her like he had said he did, he just stole her away, kept her locked up in the dungeons. And many years later, she escaped, but when she tried to find the winged mage, he was gone. She searched everywhere for him, but couldn't find him. Over a hundred years later, while she was flying over Epyon, Treize captured her and has had her ever sense.

The connection breaks and Duo gently strokes the black dragon's scales. "I'm sorry, girl. I should've known you weren't dead…"

Maybe the cut was deeper than the rider thought. He was already starting to feel dizzy and was loosing his sense of balance. He falls forward onto hands and knees and shakes his head, trying to clear it. He opens his mouth to call for Duo, but the words don't come.

Duo reaches up and pulls the bridle off of the dragon's head. She lets go of it eagerly and the huge thing crumples to the ground with a clank. She shakes hard, sending the reins falling with it.

"Come on, let's go help the others," Duo says to the two dragons near him, then looks around for Heero.

He finds the rider collapsed on the floor, a small pool of blood coming from his left side. The mage hurries over to the rider and mentally beats himself for not having made sure Heero was alright before reuniting with his dragon. Duo rolls the rider over and pulls him into his lap. He looks for the wound and sees a huge cut in the rider's upper left side. He removes the rider's shirt and places a hand on the wound. After a few moments, the cut heals, but Heero still remains unconscious.

"I'm sorry," the mage whispers to the rider.

Wing is at their side in a heartbeat and is lifting the two up onto his back. Duo sits Heero in front of him and wraps his arms around the rider's waist, pulling him back into his chest.

"I'm going to ride Wing for right now, okay Shini?"

The dragon nods, but it's obvious she doesn't trust this white dragon much. And she has a right to be wary. This dragon was attacking her only a few minutes ago. But as long as her rider trusts him, she'll try to trust him.

"Go find the others, Wing," Duo instructs the white dragon.

He snorts and lifts off, followed close by the black dragon.

…

Quatre looks up from Heavyarms's wound for just a moment to try and see how the battle is progressing, and that's when he sees Wing heading their way. But he's being followed by an Epyon dragon. WuFei notices it too and raises his fists to shoot the dragon down. But something is off about it.

"Wait," Quatre tells the fire mage. "The black dragon doesn't have a rider. And it doesn't look like it's going to attack Wing. It's just… following. Maybe it's one of ours?"

"It's a black dragon! Epyon and Aries are home to the black dragons! It's not on our side," WuFei argues.

But then it's too late. The two dragons land and Duo jumps off, cradling an unconscious Heero in his arms.

"Stand down!" the winged mage tells WuFei. "She's mine."

He lowers his hands and looks confused.

"What happened?" Duo asks.

Wing takes the rider from Duo and the mage hurries over to where Heavyarms is lying on the ground.

"You need to heal him, Duo," Quatre begs. "He got hit by a dragon slayer."

"How long ago?" the mage asks, sprinting over to the dragon's side.

"About twenty, maybe thirty minutes ago," the light mage supplies.

"Take the compress off," the braided mage instructs of Trowa.

Trowa removes the blood soaked shirts and Duo replaces them with his hands. He concentrates hard, and after a few moments, the area glows blue and the wound shrinks until it's completely gone. He removes his hands and checks over the rest of the dragon, finding no other abrasions or lacerations.

"Will he be okay?" Trowa asks the mage.

"He will completely recover, but he'll be very weak for about an hour while his body tries to create more blood."

"I'm staying with him," Trowa states.

"I'll stay with you," Quatre tells him.

"No, we'll be alright. You go with the others and help end this war," Trowa tells him.

Quatre nods and climbs onto Nataku with WuFei. The three dragons take off and head back towards battle.

"Is Heero alright?" Quatre calls across to Duo.

"He should be fine. He took a knife wound to the side and lost too much blood," Duo answers.

Quatre lets out a sigh of relief. "So what's the story with the dragon?"

Duo tightens his grip around Heero's waist as they take a sharp turn, then looks up at Quatre.

"She was my dragon when she was just a hatchling. I thought she had been killed, but turns out she had just been taken from me. And apparently Treize has had her for a while," Duo explains.

"Wow. That's amazing that you two were united after all these years," Quatre smiles.

Duo nods and turns his attention back to Heero as he starts to come to. Duo feathers kisses up and down the rider's neck until he becomes fully aware. His hand instantly goes to his side, but Duo grabs that hand and holds it tight.

"You're alright. I'm sorry I didn't see that you were wounded sooner," the mage apologizes.

"Don't be sorry. I should've asked you to heal it sooner. I just didn't want to interrupt," the rider explains, then he looks around. "Why aren't you riding Shini?"

"Because I wanted to stay with you and make sure you're okay," the mage murmurs, kissing the rider's neck again.

"Well I'm alright now. You should go be with your dragon," the rider tells the mage.

"Alright, if you're sure you're okay."

"I'm fine," the rider reassures and the mage turns to jump onto the black dragon's back. "Wait."

The mage turns back to face Heero and Heero pulls him in for a deep kiss. "Thank you."

The mage grins. "No problem, babe." Then he stands and jumps onto his dragon's back.

They all reach the battle area and take off in separate directions. Heero keeps an eye on the winged mage as he fights his way through the mass of Epyon soldiers. How he missed the great black dragon flying at him, he doesn't know, but it suddenly slammed into Wing's side, nearly dislodging the rider.

The two dragons squeal and hiss and snarl, claws and teeth clashing as they fight. The rider of the black dragon stands up and runs along his dragon's neck up to his head, then jumps. He lands gracefully on Wing's back and Heero stands to face him. He is wearing a general's uniform, so he must be Treize's second in command.

Wing feels the Epyon soldier land on his back, but there is nothing he can do to get him off without also throwing off Heero. And Wing doesn't know if he'd be able to catch him if he did throw both off because of the dragon attacking him right now.

The general wastes no time. He lunges at Heero, but Heero quickly deflects it. This guy isn't as good a swordsman as Treize was, but Heero's earlier blood loss is still affecting him, giving this man an advantage. The two spar, but it's sloppy because of Wing's constant movement due to his fight against the other dragon.

But Heero misjudges his room on the back of the dragon and doesn't realize how close he is to the edge. He nearly steps off the dragon and that causes him to wobble and nearly fall. The general takes advantage of that and shoves the rider off the dragon.

Heero falls, but then grabs Wing's foot. He forces his momentum forward, swinging up underneath the dragon's stomach and flipping up onto the dragon's back on the other side. The general is waiting for him though. Everything seems to move in slow motion as the general lunges forward, sword moving towards Heero's unprotected stomach. There is no time for Heero to react and he braces for the sting of the sword. But suddenly, Duo just appears in front of him and the sword pierces through the mage's stomach.

Both the general and the rider seemed too shocked to move, but when Duo starts to collapse, Heero is the first to recover. With one arm he pulls the mage back against his chest, and with the other, he swings his sword at the unsuspecting general. The rider's sword slashes through the general's neck, nearly decapitating the man. The man falls backwards, dead before he even leaves the dragon. The general's dragon screeches in pain, sensing the death of his rider, and immediately releases Wing and flies down after the general's body.

Heero turns his attention to Duo. The mage is unconscious, limp in the rider's arms. The rider sits them down on Wing's back, frantically trying to figure out what to do. Blood flows steadily out of the gaping wound on the mage's upper abdomen. Tears start to sting in the rider's eyes.

Heero hears the pained and desperate cries coming from Shinigami, off somewhere, trying to find her rider. She knows the mage is hurt, but she can't find him.

"Duo, heal yourself," the rider pleads. He lifts one of the mage's listless hands up to cover the wound. "Please, Duo. Please heal yourself. Duo!"

The rider shakes the mage's shoulders and the mage starts to come to.

"Duo! You need to heal yourself! Please Duo, please! You can't leave me! I… I won't let you!" the rider begs, tears freely falling now.

The mage takes a deep breath, wincing a little, then presses his hand firmly against the wound. His hand starts to glow, but very faintly and inconsistently. The mage winces in pain, his free hand clinging to the rider's tunic. The rider continues to hold the mage to his chest, watching his seemingly unproductive attempt to heal himself.

The mage's eyes start to glaze over, a sign that he was about to lose consciousness again. Heero knew that if the mage fell unconscious again, he would never wake up.

"No! Duo, please stay with me! You have to heal yourself!" the rider cries.

"Heero…" the mage murmurs, only half aware. His hand falls from his stomach and the glowing resides, revealing an only slightly smaller wound.

A sob breaks through the rider's defenses and he leans forward to kiss the mage, knowing that this was probably his last chance to ever do so. The mage kisses him back with all the strength he has left, then falls limp in the rider's arms.

Heero pulls back to see the mage's tattoos slow, then stop completely. A new wave of tears stream down the rider's cheeks, and off in the distance, Shinigami lets out a pained cry. The rider hugs the lifeless mage up against his chest and cries into his neck.

"I-I love you, Duo. P-Please, c-come back. Please…" the rider sobs. "I can't live with out you."

The rider presses his lips to the mage's forehead one last time, and the second he does, a faint glow appears between them. It rapidly gets brighter and brighter, and the rider pulls away to see the wound glowing blindingly bright. The rider doesn't know what to make of it. He just continues to hold the listless mage, watching the light swirl and pulse around the wound.

Suddenly, the mage gasps, his eyes flying open and bolting upright, as if he had simply awoken from a bad dream. His hands automatically move to his stomach to feel that the wound is completely gone. He lets out a nervous laugh, then launches himself at the rider, fusing their lips together.

"I don't know what you did," the mage pants after releasing the other's lips, "but thank you."

"I don't know what I did either."

The mage takes a deep breath, his eyes closing as he fights to catch his breath.

"Why did you do that? What did you even do? If it had been me that had gotten stabbed, it would've been easy for you to heal it. But it's obviously not so easy for you to heal your own wounds… So why?" the rider murmurs, holding the mage close.

"I don't know… I just saw you were about to get stabbed, and then I just… appeared there. I don't even know what happened. I guess I… teleported?"

"Well whatever you did, it was stupid," the rider chastises, but can't stop the smile. "But it was also pretty cool."

They sit like that for a while longer, until Duo works up the strength to stand. He whistles to Shini and she seems to appear out of nowhere.

"I'm alright, girl. I'm alright," he tells her.

"Wing, are you hurt?" Heero calls to his own dragon, remembering his battle against the general's dragon.

There is blood all over his white scales, but none of the wounds look too serious to the rider, until the dragon moves his arm back and Heero sees the nasty claw marks on his chest. Duo sees it to and turns to climb down the dragon's arm and onto his hand. Shini hovers next to the white dragon while Duo hurriedly fixes his wound and any others he can reach.

"Uhm… what happened to the general?" Duo asks, jumping down onto Shini's back.

"I killed him, so with the loss of both Treize and his top general, they should be falling into chaos now."

And sure enough, it doesn't take long for the Epyon soldiers to retreat and give up. Without anyone to direct them, they no longer know what to do. The Alliance Army works to disarm the remaining soldiers and within a few hours, the city of Epyon falls into order.

Duo stands on Shini's back, looking down at all of it from above. Heero and Wing are next to them, also watching. Duo moves his gaze up to the gloomy sky, then takes a deep, raising his hands to the sky. The angry grey storm clouds dissolve away into nothing and the city of Epyon looks upon the sun for the first time since the war started. Everyone, Alliance and Epyon soldier alike, stop what they are doing to look up at the blue sky. A peaceful silence falls upon the entire city.

Nataku flies up next to them with WuFei and Quatre, the four boys all sharing congratulations. Then, not moments later, they are joined by Heavyarms and Trowa.

"Heavyarms!" Quatre cries, jumping from Nataku's back to Heavyarms.

He gives the red dragon a few loving pats and praises, then turns to Trowa and wraps his arms tightly around the earth mage's neck.

When the two pull back, they look at each other, then to the three other boys. They begin to laugh, and are soon joined by Duo and Heero, and even WuFei. The hard times are over. Peace is practically tangible in the air. A sure sign that the war has in fact ended.

* * *

**So the whole battle with Treize seemed a little... unepic. I don't really like it, but I didn't know how to change it. But anyway, no that is not the end. There are in fact 3 more chapters XD So one or two of those will probably be posted tomorrow, then the last one monday. So yeah, until tomorrow...**


	30. Chapter 29

**Not sure I like this chapter. It's just kind of a filler chapter... But I promise the last two chapters are much better ^-^ Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 29

The next day, Dermail gets a note from King Zechs and Queen Relena from Sanq. They are inviting the entire Alliance Army to Sanq for a celebration to end the war. So the entire caravan packs up and heads down to Sanq. Everyone is only too happy to leave Epyon, putting it behind them.

It doesn't take long for everyone to get ready to head out. Heero mounts his dragon, then watches Duo mount Shini. The rider forces himself to hide his disappointment about that. He wanted the mage to ride with him, but he knew that was just selfish. Duo needed to ride his dragon. That's when riders and their dragons bond the most, when the dragon lets the human take complete control and trusts him to lead him in the right direction. But then, Heero realizes Duo can still ride his own dragon while also riding with him.

The rider jumps off of Wing and gives him a pat before jogging over to Shini and Duo.

"Mind if I ride with you?" the rider calls up to the mage.

The mage smiles and nods. Heero climbs up behind the mage and Duo shifts his wings so that Heero could wrap his arms around his waist.

"You sure Wing is alright with this?" Duo asks.

"He'll get over it," Heero replies, giving the mage a kiss.

Duo smiles and turns back around to tell Shini to take off. She snorts and takes off. Wing hurries to catch up with the black dragon, not completely trusting her yet. Shini pins her ears back and snaps at the white dragon. He snarls and snaps back.

"Wing!" Heero snaps at the same time Duo shouts, "Shini!"

The two stop their antics and Wing moves a little away from the black dragon. She was Duo's dragon and Wing trusted Duo, so he'd have to trust the black dragon.

It takes a few days for the caravan to reach Sanq. Heero and Duo switch off between Wing and Shini each day, and the two dragons seem to warm up to each other. The mage and the rider stay right with each other for the entire three days. Even though the war was over, being taken from each other had taken a toll on the both of them. Wing and Shini act the same way. Wing was only separated from Heero for a day, but it had as much of an affect as Shini and Duo's hundred and fifty year separation. Both dragon's kept their eyes on their respective riders and guarded their tent at night.

But that separation brought up another question.

"How long do dragons live? Shini doesn't look like she's one hundred and fifty years old," Duo observes as he lies comfortably in Heero's arms the night before they reach Sanq.

"I'm not sure. But they definitely live a very very long time. I can't be sure, but I've aged Wing at nearly two hundred years old. And Heavyarms has been in the Earth Lord family for the past eight hundred years."

"How do you age a dragon?" is the mage's next question.

"Their teeth. It's not completely reliable, but their teeth grow in many stages and you can usually put them in an age group based on what stage they're in."

"And… when a dragon bonds with a human and that human dies, doesn't the dragon usually die too? So how would a dragon live a few hundred years if humans only live an average of eighty?" he asks.

"Once the connection of a bond is broken by the human's death, the dragon can bond with a new human. If another human manages to bond with the dragon before it manages to kill itself, then the dragon will revive itself to serve its new rider. That's what happens with Heavyarms and the Earth Lord family. He's the Earth Lord's dragon, but when the Earth Lord has a male heir that will inherit the title of Earth Lord, he commands Heavyarms to get close to the heir so that when the Earth Lord passes away, Heavyarms will bond with the heir."

"So he's not really Trowa's dragon?"

"He's technically his father's dragon. Telling Heavyarms to help Trowa in this war is probably the Earth Lord's way of getting Heavyarms to bond with Trowa."

The two are quite for a while, Duo letting that information sink in, and Heero just watching the mage's thoughtful face. He leans in, his arms tightening around the mage, as he feathers kisses all over Duo's neck and throat. He closes his eyes and breathes in deep, content to just be here with the mage he loved so much.

"Anymore questions or can we go to sleep now?" the rider murmurs into the mage's neck.

"That's it. For now," the mage asks with a smirk.

…

Just after ten thirty in the morning the next day, Sanq appears on the horizon. The Sanq guards meet the caravan a few miles out and escort them to the city. Just inside the front gates, the streets are lined with civilians. As the Alliance Army marches through the city, the civilians cheer and toss flowers at the soldiers. It was like a parade, and the attention was causing Duo to blush deeply. He smiled tentatively at the people out of respect, but that was all he could muster. Heero chuckled at the shy mage and wraps his arms tighter around his waist.

At the palace, a party is already in full swing. Rows and rows of tables filled with food and drink are lined up in front of the large castle. Streamers, balloons, and other decorations cover the castle and front courtyard. Music fills the air and dance floors have even been laid out over the grass.

Duo smiles widely and grabs Heero's hand before running off to join the party. Trowa, Quatre, and WuFei all follow the excited mage. They eat and drink and Duo even manages to drag Heero out onto the dance floor. Heero tries to argue that he doesn't know how to dance, but Duo admits that he doesn't either. But it really didn't matter. Nobody was doing any really dances, they were just partying.

After a few hours of feasting and laughing, Zechs steps up to the rail of the second story balcony and calls for everyone's attention, Relena standing at his side. Everyone squeezes in and around the courtyard to hear what he has to say. But they didn't have to worry about having a problem hearing. Apparently Zechs is a wizard, because the moment he speaks, his voice is amplified across the entire grounds.

"Welcome, my brave soldiers, mages, and dragons alike. I won't keep you from the party too long, but I would like to propose a toast to all you brave men, women, and dragons for risking your lives in order to restore peace to the world. Although we here in Sanq are all pacifists, we are truly grateful to you all for your servitude."

"Here, here!" the crowd cries, raising their glasses.

"I'd also like to propose a toast to all those who weren't able to make it to see the end of the war, to all those who died in order to bring about peace."

"Here, here!" the crowd all cries again, though this time it is louder and full of honor.

"Again, thank you all, and please continue to enjoy this celebration," Zechs concludes, then takes the steps down from the balcony to join the party.

The crowd cheers, then disperses to continue the party. The music changes and a slower song echoes from the band. Duo moves to pull Heero onto the dance floor again.

"No way. That's real dancing, and I can't do that," the rider protests.

"Please, Heero? It doesn't look that hard. It looks like they're all just swaying and turning in a circle," the mage begs. "And… I've never actually danced with anyone before… and I'd really like to dance with you," the mage admits, a deep blush covering his cheeks.

The rider protests melt away and he relents. How could he not give the winged beauty what he wants? A smile spreads quickly across the mages face and he pulls the hesitant rider onto the dance floor. He takes a quick glance at the other couples, then positions Heero's hands on his waist to match theirs. He wraps his arms around the rider's neck, then rests his head on Heero's shoulder. The two then start to sway in time with the slow music.

"See, this isn't so bad," Duo smiles after a while, his fingers running through the rider's hair.

"I guess not," the rider gives in. "But just to let you know, you're the only one I'd ever do this for."

"Aw, how sweet. That makes me feel loved," the mage coos teasingly.

"It should," the rider murmurs, kissing the mage's ear.

The mage blushes deeply, then lets out a content sigh. "Love you, 'Ro," he whispers.

"Love you too, Duo."

…

After a while, the music eases out of the slow music. The dance floor floods with people who just want to goof off, not that it wasn't packed before. Duo takes that time to lead Heero of off the dance floor and through the crowds to more open area. The back of the courtyard is pretty empty, and Duo spots a bench at the far side. He leads Heero over there, away from the people and noise. Heero sits down on the small stone bench, then Duo sits next to him, cross legged and facing him.

"Well this is fun. It's really nice of Zechs and Relena to set this up for all of us," Heero observes, motioning haphazardly to the large crowd in front of the palace.

"Yeah, it is really nice. Too bad it's Zechs and Relena that set it up though," grumbles the mage.

Heero chuckles. "They aren't that bad. Most of the time… Well… actually… Yeah you're right… Well, half right. Zechs isn't too bad… But what has you all worked up about it?"

"It's the pink one," the mage complains. "I hate the looks she gives you. It's… horrible. It's like she'd eat you up as soon as she got you alone."

That makes Heero laugh harder. "You're jealous aren't you," he teases the mage.

"No," he instantly defends, looking away, a blush covering his cheeks. "Well… maybe a little…"

Heero forces himself to stop laughing, then lifts the mage's chin to look at him. "Duo, you have nothing to be jealous about. I wouldn't date her if she was the last person on Earth. You are the only one for me."

"Really?" the mage breathes.

The rider snorts, tossing his hands up in the air in exasperation. "Have you been listening at all for the past few weeks?" he laughs.

Duo ducks his head and blushes even more. "I'm sorry, and I have been listening. It's just that I'm not used to people caring about me. They were only kind to me when they wanted me to use my powers to help them. I was only used, never loved."

"Well I love you. Even if you didn't have your powers, I'd still love you just as much as I do now. And I'd never use you."

The mage smiles. "Love you two, baby."

The rider grimaces at the pet name and Duo chuckles. But then, his smile fades and he exhales in annoyance.

"Kiss me," the mage hisses under his breath.

"What?" the rider raises an eyebrow, confused.

"Kiss me," the mage insists.

"But why—"

"Pink parasite at ten o'clock! Just kiss me so that she'll—"

The mage is cut off by Heero's lips fusing with his. The rider's lips force open his and their tongues dance. Duo wraps his arms around the rider's neck and pulls him closer. He peeks open an eye to see Relena frozen on the lawn, her jaw hanging open and her eyes wide. A bright red blush spreads from her cheeks to her ears and she hurriedly turns around and runs off.

The mage chuckles against Heero's lips and Heero pulls back, looking to where Relena used to be.

"I take it that worked? Or were you just lying to me to get me to kiss you?" the rider raises an eyebrow.

"I may run, and I may hide, but Duo Maxwell never tells a lie," the mage says, completely seriously, his expression hard, leaving Heero completely stunned. But then that serious mask cracks and a smile tugs at the corner of Duo's lips.

Both boys bust up laughing. It takes them a while, but once they both seem to catch their breath, Heero questions, "Why did I have to kiss you? Why couldn't you have just kissed me?"

"Because then she might've thought I was sabotaging you, or corrupting you, or something. So you had to kiss me to show her that you wanted to do it and not that I forced you to do it. Or some crap like that…"

Heero just laughs, shaking his head, before he pulls the mage into another kiss.


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

After the party winds down and eventually ends, everyone packs up and hits the road. Dermail informs the two boys that there is one other stop that the caravan has to make before everyone can depart and go back to the city from which they came. Duo gives a questioning look to Heero, but Heero just shrugs, not knowing what this stop was either. Everyone else seems to know, and Quatre seems really… giddy. And excited. And Trowa has a smug look on his face. It gets the rider wondering, but it just makes the mage suspicious.

The caravan travels until the sun sets, then they set up a quick camp. It's nice not having to worry about sentries now that the war is over. It puts a lot of peace in everyone's mind. And everyone finds it so much easier to sleep at night knowing that no one was going to ambush them.

With the tent set up and their bed rolls laid out next to each other, the two boys curl up in each other's arms and try to go to sleep.

"Hey Heero? I need your help with something really quick," Quatre calls from just outside the tent.

Heero exhales and plants a quick kiss on Duo's forehead. The mage is already asleep and clings to Heero's shirt as the rider tries to get up. Heero carefully unwraps Duo's fingers from his tunic, trying not to wake him, then stands and leaves.

"What do you need, Quatre?" Heero asks, frustrated.

"Is he asleep?" Quatre whispers.

"Yeah, he is," the rider tells him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Okay, promise you won't tell him? It's a surprise."

"Tell him what? Is this about our destination?" the rider asks.

"Yeah. We're going to Aries. Dermail received a note from current residence of Aries. Apparently, once Treize's hold on the city fell, fire mages that had gathered there from numerous colonies took over and are trying to bring it back to life. It seems like there are quite a few people there. Like, hundreds of them."

Heero's eyes widen. "Oh Goddess… Duo is going to be thrilled."

"That's not the best part," Quatre grins. "The reason this man- apparently he's a priest and is acting as steward- contacted Dermail is because he wants Duo to return to Aries and be crowned Fire Lord."

"What?" the rider nearly shouts. "That's amazing! Are you sure that's what he said?"

Quatre nods excitedly. "Absolutely. The steward is extremely grateful, as is everyone else there, that Duo fought to free the world from Treize. But his main reason is that Duo, although not of royal blood, was raised by Fire Lord Dekim and was considered an heir."

"He only wanted Duo as his heir because he wanted power," Heero growls.

Quatre shrugs. "Well, even if he hadn't been considered Dekim's heir, it was a unanimous vote that Duo be chosen as new Fire Lord. And… he's the last surviving citizen of Aries anyway. So it's only right that he take the title."

"Wow… I don't know if Duo will accept that…" Heero suddenly realizes.

"Why not?" the light mage asks, frowning.

"He's so humble and shy. He'll probably think he doesn't deserve that role."

"Well, if he doesn't want it, I'm sure no one will force him. But he's definitely earned it. If anyone deserves the title of Fire Lord, he does."

Heero nods, and with his head swimming, he turns and ducks back into the tent. He carefully climbs back into bed, and wraps his arms around the mage and pulling him back into his chest. He presses a kiss to the back of the mage's neck.

Heero has too much on his mind to even contemplate going to sleep. He's very excited about Duo going back to his homeland and becoming Fire Lord. But once that happens, where does that leave Heero? Heero is just an orphan from a destroyed air colony and Duo will become the Fire Lord and rule Aries. The social difference between them is already large, but after this, it'll grow even bigger. Will Duo still want someone like Heero, a simple air mage peasant who doesn't even possess magic, at his side? The rider really hopes so, but he can't help but worry. As much as he doesn't want to leave the mage, he will if the mage wishes it of him. If the mage doesn't want him by his side anymore, Heero will understand.

Heero is startled when he feels a wetness on his cheeks and realizes he's crying. He hastily wipes the tears away and buries his face into Duo's wings, forcing himself to go to sleep.

…

It takes the caravan another two and a half days for them to reach Aries. When the city appears on the horizon, Duo sits up straighter behind the rider. He stands and looks out towards the great city.

"Are… Are we going to Aries?" the mage asks the rider.

"Yes," the rider replies and turns to smile at the mage, but the look on the mage's face completely catches the rider off guard.

He seems, upset, worried… afraid.

"Stop. I don't want to go to Aries. Wing, turn around!" he shouts at the dragon, quickly sitting back down and looking away.

Wing slows, unsure of what is going on. Heero spins around to face the mage.

"Duo? What's wrong? Why don't you want to go to Aries?"

"I don't want to see it. I've managed to preserve my memories of the place from before the war. I don't want them tainted by seeing the city destroyed. Please, can we go back?" the mage begs.

"Duo, look at me." The rider didn't want to give anything away, but he realizes now that he'll have to in order to get Duo to agree to go to the city. But he doesn't have to reveal everything. "There are people there now, Duo. Other fire mages and civilians from fire mage colonies. They're working to rebuild Aries and they want your help."

The mage looks up then, his eyes wide.

"There are people there?"

"Yes, Duo. And they really want your help."

The mage frowns, thinking about it, then gives Heero a very stern look. "Okay, I'll go, but if you're lying to me, I'll never forgive you."

"I wouldn't lie to you about something like this. I wouldn't lie to you about anything," the rider reassures him.

"Okay, I trust you."

"Good," Heero breathes, pulling the mage into a hug. "I wouldn't bring you to Aries again if I thought there was no hope for it, Duo. But I believe that if you help these civilians, the city will be back to it's once beautiful state in no time."

The rider just holds the mage for a little while longer, but then turns back around as they get nearer to the city. Once they reach the front gates, the steward, along with about three hundred citizens, are there to greet them.

Duo is off of Wing before the dragon even lands, gliding towards the front gate, eager to see the city after so many years.

"Welcome home, Fire God," the steward bows.

"Please don't bow to me," Duo asks of the steward. "And you can call me Duo."

"Of course," the priest bows his head.

"Can I…" the mage trails off, inching towards the inside of the gate.

"Why of course," he says, stepping to the side.

The mage spreads his wings and hurriedly takes off into the city. Dermail approaches the priest.

"Did you tell him?" the steward asks him.

"No, he knows nothing," the general assures.

"Good, so it'll still be a surprise. The announcement will be made at eight o'clock in front of the palace," the steward informs everybody. "Make sure he's there. I'll call everyone else to a gathering."

"I'll get him there," Heero volunteers, stepping forward.

"Perfect. And who might you be?" the priest asks politely.

"Heero Yuy. I'm Duo's…" Heero hesitates, not sure as to how Duo feels about announcing their relationship. And he decides he should better keep it hidden until after Duo is crowned and makes his decision regarding them. "Friend," he finishes.

"It is wonderful to meet you," the priest smiles, extending a hand.

Heero shakes it, and just that moment, Duo lands next to Heero and grabs his wrist before running off back inside the city.

"It's exactly as I remember it, Heero! I can't believe it! Even after Treize's attack it's still standing! Thank you for convincing me to come back, Heero. And sorry I left you back there with all those old people. I was just so excited to see it again. Isn't it beautiful?" Before the rider can answer, the mage continues with his rambling. "Come on! I'll show you where I lived, and where the dragon stables are, and where I went to school, and where I played fire tag with the other kids, and…"

Heero smiles, listening to the mage ramble on as they run through the city. Suddenly, the mage whistles, then grabs Heero around the waist and takes off. A moment later, Shini appears and Duo lowers them onto her back. The black dragon also looks excited, probably not having been in Aries since she was here with Duo one hundred and fifty years ago.

"Take us to the palace, Shini," Duo tells her.

She chirps, then shoots off towards the castle. Heero scans the city, but finds his eyes being drawn back to Duo. He leans in and presses a kiss to the side of his head, but Duo is distracted and doesn't even take notice, which makes Heero smile more. He loves how happy the mage is, and can't help but share his joy.

The dragon lands in front of the palace and the two jump off. Well, Duo jumped off. Heero was practically dragged off. Heero then follows the mage into the castle, then up the grand staircase to the fifth and final floor. Duo pulls Heero down the hall and into one of the rooms. He stops in the doorway, a hand coming up to cover his mouth.

"It's just how I left it…" he breathes, slowly walking into the room.

Heero stays back in the doorway to give the shocked mage his space as he looks over his room.

"One hundred and fifty years and no body touched it," the mage murmurs, walking up to his dresser and running a finger over the think layer of dust.

Duo opens the top drawer and the drawer opens with a squeak. He runs his hands over the folded clothes there. He moves throughout the room, looking over everything. He smiles when he finds his hairbrush lying in a pile of broken glass underneath a shattered mirror. He looks up to see the window is also shattered. His memory pulls him back one hundred and fifty years ago to the last time he was in this room.

*One hundred and fifty years past…*

The sun rises on the horizon, flooding the mage's room with light. The mage yawns, squints against the brightness, and rolls over. He's almost asleep again when there is a knock on his door. He sits up and quickly pulls on his tunic, struggling to get it on over his wings. It's probably Fire Lord Dekim at his door and he needed to look somewhat presentable.

"Come in!" he calls as he ties off the end of his braid.

Sure enough, Fire Lord Dekim walks into his room.

"I have something I need to talk to you about, boy," he tells the winged mage.

"What is it, sir?"

"Aries is a wonderful city, is it not?"

"Of course it is, My Lord," Duo replies, wondering where the old man is going with this.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were to expand Aries?"

"But, we can't, sir. There is no free land to claim. Epyon lies to the northeast, Libra to the North, Taurus to the southwest, and the river to the southeast. And on the other side of the river is colony territory."

"But the point of expanding is to take territory from other nations, boy. We have to show everyone else how powerful we are."

"You mean go to war?" the mage asks, appalled.

"Not war, boy, just… conquer."

"I… I don't think that is such a good idea, Your Highness," the boy disagrees with him. "These other nations aren't going to be happy about this. They'll fight back. Then other nations will take sides and the whole world will become involved. It'll be a total war, sir."

"But we'd win that war. Don't you see, boy? With you on our side, we _can't_ lose!"

The mage takes a step back, stunned. It felt like he had just been punched in the gut, like all the wind had been knocked out of him. So all this attention the Fire Lord had been giving him, all this fatherly affection… he was just using the mage. He was just interested in Duo's powers.

"I won't help you destroy the lives of millions of people," the mage snaps at the Fire Lord, his respect for the man gone.

"You will do as you are ordered, boy!"

"You can't make me!" Duo shouts, fighting to control his powers. He really didn't want to lose control in front of the Fire Lord. Sure he was mad at him, but he didn't want to kill him.

He takes off out the door and down the stairs. He makes it out the front door before the guards grab him. He struggles against them, but is afraid to use his powers. Every time he does, he loses control.

"You have no choice in this matter, Fire God!" Dekim shouts at him, striding out of the palace. "You will obey me or…" the man hesitates, thinking of some way to threaten the boy, "or your dragon dies."

Duo freezes, then spins around. "You wouldn't…" he breathes.

"Try me," he growls in return.

Duo is aware of a strong… something growing within him. It's the same feeling he gets every time he's about to black out and his powers take over. He doesn't fight it though. Threatening the mage's dragon set Duo off and he wasn't about to hold back.

…

The first thing the mage is aware of when he wakes is his soft carpet underneath him. What happened? Why was he on the floor? Was everything that had just happened a bad dream? Did he roll off his bed?

The mage forces himself to his feet and shuffles over to the window. People are busy trying to put out multiple fires on the housetops and trees. Dust is thick in the air and it looks like a nuclear bomb just hit the middle of the city. People were carrying unconscious citizens into houses to be cared for. At least, Duo hoped they were unconscious.

So it wasn't a dream. Duo really did lose control to his powers. And as a result, he demolished half the city. Tears prickle in his eyes and rage boils within him. It was all Dekim's fault! How could he do that to him? How could he plot to destroy millions of people's lives and then order Duo to do the dirty work for him? It wasn't fair! Duo grabs the first thing his hand falls on and chucks it as hard as he can. His hairbrush hits the mirror and it explodes, sending glass falling onto the desk underneath it.

Duo suddenly remembers Dekim's threat against his beloved dragon, Shinigami. Fear grips his heart and he spreads his wings, breaking through the window and shooting off towards the dragon stable. The mage flies straight through the open doors and towards where Shini's stall is. It's empty. He can't hold back the tears anymore. He chokes on a sob and falls to his knees, burying his face in his hands. He sits there simply crying for a few minutes, until he hears men shouting.

"We need to find him!"

"Don't let him get away!"

"Check in the stable!"

Duo knows they are talking about him and he takes off, flying south. He has no idea where he's going, but he knows he can't stay here. He flies for a few days until he finds a cave in the side of a mountain. He can stop and rest here for a few days. He needs to hide from Dekim. He can't find the mage. The mage walks as far as he can, until he can't walk any further, then stops and takes a deep breath. As he exhales, a silvery vapor leaves his nose and fills the air around him. Within moments, it hardens and Duo is shut away from the world.


	32. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

*Present*

Heero watches as Duo's eyes glaze over and he seems to go back in time. Heero wonders what the mage is remembering. Suddenly, tears shine in the mage's eyes and his hand squeezes the handle of his brush so hard that the glass shards that were on it make his hand start to bleed. Outside, winds pick up and storm clouds start to roll in. The rider hurries over to the mage's side and eases his hand from the brush. He pulls the mage against his chest and just holds him. It takes a while, but the clouds eventually dissipate into nothing.

The mage comes back to himself and finds the rider holding him. He fights the tears and hugs Heero tightly to him. After a few moments, when he regains control of his emotions, he steps back from the rider. He smiles at him to try and ease the rider's worried look, then continues to look around the room. Suddenly, he doesn't want to be in here anymore.

"Let's go see the stable," he urges, taking Heero's hand and leading him from the room.

Shini and Wing are waiting for them outside and walk with the two boys as they head to the stables. Duo leads Heero through the doors and into stable. There are a few dragons here, but most of the dozens of stalls are empty. The mage leads the rider all the way down to the end.

"Remember this box, Shini?" the mage asks the black dragon.

Shini snorts and shuffles into the box, sniffing around. She sneezes and dust flies everywhere. The stalls must not have been used since the war. The four move on to the school Duo had gone to until his powers had been discovered, and to an open field the mage used to play in. Duo leads the rider all over the city for hours, telling story after story.

Heero wonders about what it is Duo had remembered earlier, but decides to ask him about it later. The mage was obviously a little overwhelmed with emotion right now, whether it be joy or sadness.

Seven thirty finds the two boys in a park, lying back on the grass. Heero rolls over onto his side so he can see the mage's face. The sun had already set, but the moon's glow illuminates the field. The mage is deep in thought, probably remembering something, but he doesn't seem upset, so the rider leaves him alone. But after a few minutes, Heero scoots closer and brushes his lips across the mage's, pulling him from his thoughts.

"We should probably go," the rider states, standing and extending a hand to the mage.

The mage takes it and Heero pulls him up into his arms.

"Go where?" the mage asks.

"To the palace."

"Why?" the mage persists, but takes the rider's hand and follows him anyway.

"The priest wants to talk to you about something," the rider tells him, trying to keep his face and tone neutral so not to give anything away.

"Alright…" the mage shrugs.

It is nearly eight when the rider and mage arrive at the palace. Everyone is already gathered in the front yard, and on the top balcony, Dermail and the priest wait. Duo slows when he sees the crowd, confused as to what is going on.

"What's happening? Are we having another party or something?" the mage whispers to the rider as the two work their way through the crowd to the stairs leading up to the balcony.

"You'll just have to wait and see," the rider tells the confused mage, barely being able to hold back the smile.

Once they get up the balcony and over to where the priest is standing, the old man raises a hand and the crowd instantly quiets down.

"First of all I would like to thank all of you on behalf of the Fire Mage capitol of Aries, for saving us from Khushrenada's reign. But, the main reason we are all gathered here, is that I have a very important announcement." The priest turns to Duo and Heero takes a few steps back, leaving the mage with the priest. "Duo Maxwell, Fire God… Would you like to take over the role of Fire Lord?"

Duo's eyes widen and his jaw drops. The tattoos visible on his neck and hands speed up greatly. He was definitely not expecting that. The complete shock on the mage's face makes the rider smile. Duo spins on the rider.

"You knew?" he accuses, pointing at him.

The rider raises his hands in surrender, his smile growing. "I was sworn to secrecy."

The rider receives a glare and chuckles at the completely overwhelmed mage. Duo turns back to the amused priest to give him his answer, but realizes he doesn't have one. He stutters for a second, looks out at the huge crowd, then at his lover, then back at the priest.

"I… I'm going to have to think about it…" he admits.

"Of course. Take as long as you like."

The mage nods and turns to walk towards Heero, but then hesitates and turns back around.

"Why did you pick me?" he asks.

"Because you are the last remaining civilian of Aries, you were technically considered Fire Lord Dekim's heir- even though after you disappeared he appointed someone else, and we had a vote and the result was unanimous. Everyone wants you to lead this city," the steward replies.

"Well, I'm honored that you all chose me, but this isn't a decision I can make right now. I'll have to sleep on it," the mage tells him.

"Of course."

Duo turns and grabs Heero's arm before hurrying off the balcony and into the castle. He leads the rider towards the staircase, but then hesitates, his eyes locked on the large set of doors at the far end of the foyer. He releases Heero's arm and warily moves towards it. The rider follows, but gives the mage his space. Duo walks up to the doors and takes a deep breath before pushing them open. It's the throne room.

He walks through the large, cavernous room, following the thick red carpet. Pillars line both sides of the long carpet, and at the end of the room, a large throne sits. Duo makes his way slowly towards the throne, but then stops before the few stairs leading up to it. The rider hangs back a little ways to give the mage his privacy.

After a few moments, the mage walks up the three steps and runs a finger over the armrest of the throne.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this, Heero," he murmurs, so quiet that the rider struggles to hear it.

"It's entirely your decision, Duo. If you want it, then take it. If you don't, then don't. It's as simple as that," the rider replies, stepping up to the foot of the throne.

"Well what do you think? Do you think I'm ready?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Why not?" the mage complains.

"You know why. My opinion will taint your decision and it needs to be entirely your own."

The mage releases a deep breath, then climbs down and heads back for the main hall, Heero following close behind. Duo heads straight for his room. Once in there, he immediately uses his wind magic to blow all the dust out of the room through the open window. With a flick of his wrist, the curtain slides over to cover the hole.

Then, the mage just stands there for a moment.

"Are you alright?" the rider asks him, moving up next to him.

"Yeah. A lot has happened today… I'm going to bed," he states, kicking off his boots and literally falling into bed.

Heero pulls the covers up over the mage, then crawls in next to him.

"I was remembering the last time I had been in this room," the mage suddenly states.

"What?" the rider asks, confused.

"Earlier, when I lost control. I know you've been wondering about that," he murmurs.

"Oh…" Then silence. "Would you like to tell me what happened?"

Duo tells the rider the whole story, not leaving out anything. The rider listens intently. When Duo is done his tale, the rider pulls him closer and steals a kiss.

"I'm sorry that had to happen to you, Duo," he breathes, pressing another kiss to the mage's forehead.

"Well it brought me to you, didn't it?" the mage mumbles sleepily.

"But still…"

It's silent for a while, and the rider can practically hear the wheels turning in the mage's head. He's most likely thinking about the offer.

Finally, after what seems like eternity, the mage says, "I think I'll try it."

"Try being Fire Lord?"

"Yeah. If I'm not doing a good job, or I'm really not ready for it, then I can always step down, give the position to someone a little more… reasonable."

"Duo, it's not 'unreasonable' for you to be Fire Lord. I think it's a good choice," the rider tells him.

"Really?"

"Absolutely. There is no one more qualified than you for this position."

"Well I think your opinion is a little biased," the mage points out.

The rider laughs. "Maybe. But I'm not the only one who thinks that."

The mage smiles and closes his eyes, burying his face in the rider's chest. After a while, Duo's tattoos slow and his breathing deepens. The rider sighs, remembering the thoughts he had first had after hearing about this offer.

"We are already so far apart in status, Duo. I just really hope that you won't leave me when that gap grows even bigger and you realize just how far apart we are. But if you do choose to leave me… I'll let you go," the rider breathes into the mage's thick hair.

Duo fights to maintain a steady breathing rate and to keep his tattoos from picking up the pace. Did Heero really think that he'd leave the rider just because Duo became Fire Lord? Did he really think their social status was that far apart? Yeah, Heero might've been a nobody, but he just helped lead an army to victory. He wasn't as low on the totem pole as he thought he was. Part of Duo was mad that Heero thought he would leave the rider just because he became a Lord. Another part though, a bigger part, wanted to comfort the rider, wanted to promise him that everything would be okay, and that the mage would never leave him. But Duo keeps his mouth shut, not knowing what to say.

The rider is soon asleep, but it takes much longer for the mage to fall asleep, thoughts on how he'd reassure Heero keeping him wide awake.

…

Early the next morning, both boys are up and about. They find the steward and Duo informs him of his decision. The old priest is thrilled and announces that the ceremony will be in half an hour.

"Now? We're doing it now?" the mage demands, his face paling.

"Why of course! Aries is in need of a Fire Lord and the people are eager to see you crowned."

The priest turns and leaves before Duo can argue with him. The two go back up to Duo's room and Duo hunts for something a little more presentable to wear than just his fire mage tunic. But everything else is too flashy. He finally just settles on a clean tunic.

After half an hour, the two make their way to the throne room. There is already a very large crowd gathered inside the huge hall and the foyer. They all clear a path for Duo all the way up to the throne where the steward is waiting, a crown in his hand. Duo slows, feeling like he's about to hyperventilate. It's the rider's hand on his back, not pushing him forward, but just supporting him, that gives Duo the courage to keep moving forward. Suddenly, he knows just what to do to convince Heero that he's never leaving him.

At the throne, the rider stops to stay back with the crowd, but Duo grabs his arm and pulls him up with him. Heero stands back though, giving the mage and the steward their space.

The steward smiles at the mage, then turns to address the crowd. He gives a short speech, explaining a little about Duo's past, and why he deserves the title Fire Lord. At the end of his little speech, he motions Duo to take a knee facing the crowd. Duo obliges and the steward moves up behind him and raises the crown up above his head.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… Fire Lord Duo!" he announces, placing the crown on Duo's head.

The crowd erupts in cheer. Heero applauds, his heart swelling with pride. Duo stands and raises a hand. The cheer dies down immediately.

"Uhm… I really don't know what to say… I'm not really one for speeches…" he admits with a nervous laugh, but then grows serious. "But I want to thank all of you for presenting me with this honor. I've never had this kind of responsibility before, so I don't know how this will work out. But I'm sure with all your help, I can make this work. I promise I will not overstep my power and I will do everything I can to make sure this country and it's people prosper."

The crowd cheers and Duo smiles, glad he seemed to have said the right thing. He turns to find Heero, then remembers what he wanted to do.

Heero watches in confusion as Duo leans in to whisper something in the steward's ear. The steward nods and hurries off. After a few moments, he returns, holding something behind his back. Duo holds out a hand to him, telling him to wait a moment before revealing what he has hidden. Duo then turns to the rider and motions for him to join them. Heero obliges warily, confused as to what is going on.

"Heero," Duo addresses him, loud enough for the crowd to hear. "I want to thank you for all you've done for me and for being by my side and supporting me when I've needed you most."

Oh no, here it comes, Heero finds himself thinking. Duo is saying goodbye to him.

"I know I'm not going to be able to run this city by myself, and I can think of no better person to help me run it than you." He turns and motions for the priest to hand him what he had hidden. It was another crown, identical to his.

Heero feels his eyes widen and his heart stop. He can't believe what Duo is offering him.

"Heero, I want you by my side forever, but the choice is yours." He holds out the crown.

"Duo…" the rider starts, but it comes out in barely a whisper, so Heero clears his throat and tries again. "I don't… This is…" he stops himself with a sigh. "I would love to be by your side forever, and I would love to help you run the capitol," he finds himself saying. He's not sure if this is such a good idea though. He's a nobody, and he wasn't even born in a fire mage city or colony.

The ecstatic smile that spreads across the mage's face though completely puts that thought to rest. He suddenly knows that this is a good idea, that this will work. Duo motions for Heero to kneel and he places the crown on the rider's head. Heero stands Duo jumps into his arms, hugging him tight.

"All hail Fire Lord Duo and Fire Lord Heero!" the steward cries and the crowd cheers ten times louder than before.

Duo giggles, then looks back at Heero. The rider leans forward and pulls the mage in for a passionate kiss, telling the mage just how grateful he is that he wanted the rider to stay with him.

The two pull back and Duo waves to the crowd with one hand, the other taking the rider's hand, weaving their fingers together. The two will definitely have a struggle ahead rebuilding a city destroyed by a brutal war, but as long as they have each other, everything will work out perfectly in the end.

OWARI

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**Nuuuuuuu I don't want it to be overrrrrrr. I loved this one so much and I hope you guys did too. Thanks for all the reviews and all the favorites and I apologize if I didn't reply to some of your reviews T^T.**

**I have another fic finished so expect that to be posted soon. Other than that, I'm not really working on anything other than a few random story ideas that will most likely never get be finished. So yeah, until next time!  
**


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